Undergraduate

Overview

At the undergraduate level, higher education providers are able to offer two types of places to domestic students:

• Commonwealth supported (previously known as a HECS place)
• fee-paying (non-Commonwealth supported).

If you are in a Commonwealth supported place, you only make a contribution towards the cost of your education (known as the student contribution) while the Australian Government contributes the majority of the cost.

If you are not Commonwealth supported you will pay tuition fees, which are not subsidised by the Australian Government. Fee-paying undergraduate places are additional to Commonwealth supported places.

Overseas students are only able to study in an overseas fee-paying paying place and must pay overseas student fees. Providers must charge overseas students fees at a level sufficient to recover the full costs of delivering their course.

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Commonwealth loans and scholarships

From 2005 eligible students will have access to deferred payment arrangements through the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP). The HELP scheme consists of three loans called:

• HECS-HELP
• FEE-HELP
• OS-HELP

See also: Loans

General citizenship and residency rules

Access to Commonwealth assistance for higher education, which includes subsidised places and loans, is dependent on your citizenship or residency status.

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Commonwealth assistance available

The following table outlines the Commonwealth assistance options available to Commonwealth supported, fee-paying and overseas students, based on citizenship or residency status.

Note: This table only applies to students commencing their studies after 1 January 2005. If you commenced your studies before 2005, go to pre-2005 HECS students or pre 2005 non-HECS students.

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