Fee free courses

I have completed a Cert 4 course in Tafe and my teachers have said that they will have fee free places if we apply for diploma in our course, as they are some that decide who gets fee free. I have an offer from tafe for the diploma however it says to secure my enrolment I need to submit payment to formalise enrolment. Basically if I want to accept, I have to pay. How then do I get a fee free course or placement if they expect me to pay first? I don’t have the $ for it. I even went on the tafe chat and they just kept telling me I have to follow the details of the email offer (which again is asking me for payment to be able to show I’ve accepted the offer). This all makes no sense to me. Do I have to find the $ and hope they give me a fee free spot? Anyone know how it works?