From January 2012, Australian higher education providers began charging students a compulsory fee to support services and amenities of a non-academic nature. SSAF is designed to improve non-academic services and amenities for students, such as recreational activities, employment assistance, financial or legal advice, child care, and food catering, through increased funding. It was introduced through the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities) Act 20111, which was passed by the Australian Parliament in October 2011.
A second part of the Act was to introduce the new loan scheme, SA-HELP. The scheme allows eligible students to defer all or part of their SSAF each year. For more details, see Deferring your payment with SA-HELP.
UniSA started charging the SSAF from Study Period 5, 2012. The University widely consulted students throughout 2012 regarding priority areas for expenditure of the Fee revenue. To have your say, and for the latest updates on how the revenue will be spent, see Use of the revenue.
Details of how the SSAF will be calculated, and who it will apply to, are available from the Payment information page.
University policies that refer to the SSAF are: A47: Student Fees and Loans, A48: Enrolment, A36: Student Mobility and A53: Short Programs, Executive Certificates, Professional Certificates