Am I eligible?

Are you:

• 15 years old or over?
• no longer at school?
• living or working in NSW?
• an Australian citizen, Australian permanent resident, humanitarian visa holder or New Zealand citizen?

If you answered ‘Yes' to all four questions, you're eligible for Smart and Skilled training.

Other eligibility conditions

Your eligibility is not affected if you have completed a vocational education and training (VET) course, including a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship, as part of your high school education.

There are also some exceptions to the eligibility conditions described above, such as for Aboriginal people.

Use the Skills Compare search to find a course and check your eligibility.

Home schooled students

Eligibility for Smart and Skilled is extended to registered home schooled students whose training commences on or after 1 January 2017.

Apprentices and trainees

NSW apprentices and some new-entrant trainees may be eligible for a government subsidy for the training that supports their apprenticeship or traineeship.

Under the NSW Government fee-free traineeship initiative, NSW new entrant trainees that commence their training on or after 1 January 2020 may be eligible for fee-free training. For eligible trainees there will be no requirement to pay the fee.

Types of courses you're eligible for

Your eligibility for a government-subsidised Smart and Skilled course no longer depends on previous qualifications:

• From 2016, all students, regardless of the level of any previous qualifications held, are able to access subsidised Smart and Skilled training up to Certificate III level. This means that even if you have a higher-level qualification you may still be eligible to re-train to enter (or re-enter) the workforce. Previous qualifications do not affect eligibility, but may affect the student fee.
  
• You can also enrol in subsidised training at Certificate IV, Diploma or Advanced Diploma level, depending on the availability of funding for these courses.

Not eligible for fee-free training?

If you're not eligible for Smart and Skilled training, or if your preferred course is not on the NSW Skills List, there are other training options available to help you get the skills you need.