May my RTO refer prospective students to an external loan provider to assist in paying for their course?
Answer
Your RTO is free to refer students to external loan providers as a payment option. However, if a student prepays fees of $1500 or more to your RTO, you must meet the requirements for fee protection set out in Schedule 6 of the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015. This includes where your RTO receives those funds directly from an external loan provider. Before any student enrols or begins their training (whichever occurs first), you must ensure that the student is informed about relevant fee information, as detailed in Standard 5.3 of the Standards for RTOs 2015. If any organisation, such as an external loan provider, recruits students for your RTO, you must have a written agreement with the organisation and inform ASQA of the arrangement.