As long as you are enrolled in units of study with census dates on or after 1 January 2024, you no longer need to pass the low completion rate requirement to be eligible for a Commonwealth supported place and HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP. If you had a low completion rate and changed to a full fee paying place, you will receive an email with information on your options to continue your studies with Commonwealth assistance.

Due to legislation requirements, the University is unable to refund any full fees paid for sessions with a census date prior to 1 January 2024.

Each semester when we check your academic progression, we will check your unit of study completion rate against the low completion rate requirements.

If you have a fail rate of more than 50% of the units of study attempted, legislation states that we can no longer offer you a Commonwealth supported place (CSP) or Commonwealth support through HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP or SA-HELP.

You will receive an email confirming that you have a low completion rate, and outlining your next steps as well as how to access the academic advice and support you need. You will need to take action before the deadline outlined in your email. After this deadline, you will lose access to your course in a Commonwealth supported place and your status will be changed to full-fee paying.

The results for any units that count towards your award course requirements are included in the calculation of your unit of study completion rate under the requirements of Higher Education Support Act (see Part 2-2).

This includes any units you’ve received credit for in an award course commenced after 1 January 2022, irrespective of when those units were originally completed.

Units that are worth zero (0) credit points are not counted towards the calculation of your completion rate, as these units do not have fee liabilities associated and are not eligible for Commonwealth financial assistance under the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP).

Your completion rate is calculated by evaluating how many units you have successfully completed (passed) as a proportion of all of the units you have attempted to meet your award course requirements. You will be assessed as having a low completion rate if the number of units you have received a Fail (FA, FR), Absent Fail (AF) or Discontinue - Fail (DF) grades for is greater than the number of units you have passed.

If you have a low completion rate, you can:

• choose to continue your course in an upfront, full-fee paying place
• apply to transfer to a new course
• suspend your course.

If you are currently on a Commonwealth supported place (CSP), it means your course fees are subsidised by the Australian Government and you pay the remainder as a ‘Student Contribution’.

If you choose to continue in a full-fee paying place, this means your place receives no financial contribution from the government and you are required to pay the full cost of the course.

You will need to pay your fees by the relevant payment dates each teaching period. You can find payment due dates for your course on our Study dates page. If you do not pay the full fee payment by the due date you will be discontinued from your unit enrolment and your course.

Find out more about full-fee paying places, and when your fees are due.

If you are already enrolled in a domestic full fee paying place you will not be able to use FEE-HELP to assist with your tuition fees.

If you pay upfront and increase your completion rate to 50 per cent or higher, you will be eligible for Commonwealth assistance for your course again.

Change to another course

If you apply and are successful in changing to another course, your previous low completion rate will not carry over and you'll be eligible to apply for a CSP and for HELP loans for your new course. However, be aware that you will need to meet eligibility requirements to transfer to the new course and the course transfer process is competitive and requires a good academic record. Find out more about the options to change your course and the deadlines for applying.

You will need to ensure that any future enrolled units in the old course are discontinued prior to the census date so that you are not liable for them.

Suspend your course

Suspending your studies allows you to take a break from studying while keeping your place in the course. If you decide to suspend your studies, you will still be identified as having a low completion rate in this course when you return and you will not be entitled to CSP for the next semester of study.

If you decide to continue studying in your current course but in a full-fee paying place, this is how to calculate your full-fee amount per unit:

1. Review the schedule of fees to find the total annual cost of the course you are enrolled in.
2. Find out the credit point value of the units you want to study from your handbook.
3. Calculate as follows:
   • Total annual cost of the course divided by 48 (full time credit point load) = cost per credit point value
   • Multiply the ‘cost per credit point value’ with the number of credit points in the unit you are studying.
   • This will give you the total full fee payment for that unit.
   • Do this for each unit you want to study in the semester to obtain the full-fee payment.

Example scenario

Student A is enrolling in 4 units of study for the semester.

Each unit of study is worth 6 credit points = total credit points of 24.

The total annual cost for student A’s course in this fee schedule is $46,000.

How to calculate:

• $46,000 annual cost divided by 48 (full-time credit point load over 2 semesters) = $958.33 per credit point
• Student A’ units are worth 6 credit points each
• Student A is taking 4 units in the semester = 24 credit points.
• 24 times $958.33 = $22,999.92

This means Student A would need to pay $22,999.92 for their tuition fees by the payment due date to continue their studies in a full fee paying place.

If you elect to continue in a full-fee paying place you are required to make the payment by the due date and if you fail to make this payment in time, you will be discontinued from your course.

If special circumstances beyond your control have prevented you from successfully completing one or more units of study, you may be eligible to apply for late discontinuation under special circumstances. If you are successful in your application you will receive a ‘discontinue not to count as failure’ (DC) outcome for the affected units and these units will be removed from counting towards your completion rate. Submitting an application does not guarantee that your application will be approved or that your completion rate will increase to the required level.

After the deadline advised in your email, you will lose access to your course in a Commonwealth supported place and your status will be changed to full-fee paying. This applies even if you have an application for late discontinuation under special circumstances pending.

If you are continuing your studies, you will need to select units, complete your re-enrolment and pay your fees by the necessary deadlines.

If you're advised that you don't meet the completion rate requirement, make sure you carefully read the email and respond by the date provided. Your email will include a contact for our case managers, who will be in touch to talk through your options.

Additional support

Academic progression support

If you’re worried about your studies and academic progress, we have a range of advisers available to help you understand your options and the support services available.

Wellbeing support

If you would like to speak to someone about how you are feeling, you can access our confidential Student Mental Wellbeing Support Line available 24/7. You don’t need an appointment – just call 1300 474 065 or text 0488 884 429 to speak to someone. Find out more about the health and wellbeing support available.

Additional information on the Government requirements can also be found on the Study Assist website.

Prior to 2023, honours students were only grandfathered if they completed their pre-honours course of study in a CSP before 1 January 2021 and then commenced an eligible related honours degree.

Following changes to the Higher Education Support Act in 2023, CSP students doing honours are now grandfathered if they start a pre-honours course of study in a CSP before 1 January 2021, complete that course of study after 1 January 2021 and then start a related honours degree. For example, if you commenced a Bachelor of Arts prior to January 2021, complete this course and undertake honours through the related appended honours degree (the Bachelor of Arts (Honours)), you are eligible for the grandfathered rate.

Students who commenced a course with an integrated or embedded honours component before 1 January 2021 will continue to pay the pre-2021 fees for their honours component because this is part of a single course of study. For example, if you commenced in the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Advanced Studies prior to 1 January 2021 and undertake the honours pathway through this degree, you wil pay the pre-2021 rate (indexed by CPI each year).

Students transferring to a different undergraduate degree to undertake honours are not usually grandfathered. See our information on transferring courses below.

The changes operate retrospectively, which means some students will retrospectively become grandfathered students. In this case, any student contribution amounts deferred to the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) or paid upfront may need to be re-credited or refunded. We will contact any impacted students from 2021, 2022 and 2023.

For more information about the changes, see the Higher Education Support Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Act 2023.

If you are a domestic student in a CSP and you are seeking a course transfer (including course upgrades, downgrades and some honours), you should be aware that this transfer will be treated as a new course enrolment.

This means you will be charged the new Job-ready Graduates Package fee rates for units in your new degree. The new completion rate requirements will also apply to all course commencements in 2022 and beyond.

If you transfer to a new course to do honours, you may be charged the new fee rates for honours. For example, if you are in a single degree and transfer to the combined Bachelor of Advanced Studies degree, this will be considered a new course enrolment and will not be grandfathered. Find out more about honours fees.

If you are considering applying for a course transfer because you have concerns about your academic progress, please see our academic progression support page.