You've been in the group 9 months. Surely you'd know that just visiting regularly is not an approved entry scheme for DTV. A visa provides the reason for your visit.
You'd better hope that the school you applied at has a successful approval rate for DTV documentation. Not all schools have the appropriate certifications for acceptable DTV approvals. What school did you choose and they say they have been successful with DTV application approvals? I'm wondering why they didn't give you a full package of appropriate documents for your submission.
At some immigration offices you need to file a 90-day report before they will give you a certificate of residence, and to file a 90-day report or request a certificate of residence you need to have the TM30 filed.