Revised 2/1/2024, principally to remove reference to repealed laws denying funding to students who had not successfully completed a sufficient share of subjects taken.

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‘Full fees’ is a term used in Australia as an implied contrast with students who pay a student contribution, a price-capped student charge. A student contribution is usually combined with a tuition subsidy called a ‘Commonwealth contribution’. The two contributions together are the overall funding rate for a ‘Commonwealth supported student’.

‘Full fee’ means that there is no government subsidy and the student pays all the provider charges. These fees are not price capped, although there is a price floor for international students. 

A ‘full fee’ should be distinguished from an upfront fee or student contribution, which is paid directly to a higher education provider. All international and some domestic students are ineligible for a HELP student loan and therefore pay upfront. This includes some domestic students who are Commonwealth supported, permanent residents and many New Zealand citizens. Other domestic students can choose to pay upfront.

About 6 per cent of subjects taken by domestic undergraduates are full-fee paying. The simple explanation for this is that domestic undergraduate students in public universities pay student contributions rather than full fees, while undergraduates in private universities and non-university higher education providers pay full fees. However, there are exceptions in both cases, sometimes at the unit of study (subject) level rather than the course.

In what follows, all statutory references are to the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

Entitlement to Commonwealth support at a public university

Universities have significant discretion in advising domestic students that they are Commonwealth supported: section 36-5. 

A domestic student is an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen, a permanent visa holder, a permanent humanitarian visa holder, or eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holders: Schedule 1, Dictionary.

Generally, domestic undergraduates enrolled in a Table A university (commonly known as public universities, although including the two Catholic universities, ACU and Notre Dame) must be enrolled as a Commonwealth supported student: section 36-30(1). Exceptions to this are discussed below. 

Once a student is a Commonwealth supported student, he or she can be charged a student contribution but cannot be charged another tuition fee: section 169-15(1).

If a student is not Commonwealth supported they must pay the tuition fee set by the provider: section 169-15(2). 

Becoming a Commonwealth supported student creates an on-going entitlement for that course, unless one of the exceptions below becomes relevant: section 36-25(1).

Course level

In a range of circumstances a domestic student either never receives or loses their entitlement to be charged a student contribution only:

When the student started the course as an international student: section 36-30(2)(d).

When the higher education provider expects that the student will not undertake any of the course’s units of study in Australia: section 36-10(2B) (so for example an expatriate Australian could not take a subsidised online course at an Australian university).

When the course of study will be taken primarily at an overseas campus: section 36-15(1A).

When the student is in an employer-reserved place: section 36-15(1)(a).

When the student is in a course the minister has specifically declared is not Commonwealth supported: section 36-15(2)(a) (this is a legislative instrument; only applies to a Bachelor of Circus Arts at Swinburne, which as of 2024 has a pause on new enrolments).

When the student is in a course of a specified type the minister has declared is not Commonwealth supported: section 36-15(2)(b) (this is a legislative instrument, only made for research students).

In the last two cases, restrictions can be limited to ‘students of a specified kind’. In deciding whether to make the determination, the minister must have regard to the effects on students, and the determination must be made at least six months before the day that students are next able to commence the affected course(s): section 36-15(3) and (4). Such a determination is also a legislative instrument, which means that it can be disallowed by either house of parliament.

When the student has advised that they do not want to be a Commonwealth supported student: section 36-10(3).

An enabling course does not fall within the definition of an undergraduate course: Schedule 1, Dictionary. Therefore, as with postgraduates, a university can choose to charge full fees to domestic students in enabling courses.

Subject level 

Eligibility in some cases also applies at the unit of study (subject) level. Eligibility is denied or lost in the circumstances below:

When the unit of study does not contribute to the course of study the student is enrolled in: section 36-10(1)(b).

When the secretary of the Department of Education deems the student not to be ‘genuine’: section 36-5(5). There are some guidelines on what counts as being genuine, such as around engagement with a subject. 

With some room for discretion, when a student seeks to enrol in subjects above two full-time equivalent years of study load in a twelve month period: section 36-12. This applies to students eligible for HELP: section 36-12(1)(b), seemingly exempting permanent residents and New Zealand citizens who are not eligible for HELP. Only the excess subjects are covered by this provision. 

When permanent residents and New Zealanders will not be resident in Australia for the duration of the unit: section 36-10(2).

When the university has determined that a summer or winter school subject is full-fee (but the subject has to be available at other times): section 36-10(7).

When the subject is a work experience unit of study and the student is not currently or has not previously been enrolled in non-work experience unit(s) of study: section 36-10(6). 

When the student has used all their Student Learning Entitlement, with a base level of 7 years (irrelevant for now as only subjects taken since 2022 are counted): section 36-10(1)(d).

When the higher education provider has completed a part of the student’s request for Commonwealth assistance that the student is supposed to fill in: section 36-15(5). The purpose of this amendment is deny the higher education provider funding if they signed students up without them knowing about it (as happened under VET FEE-HELP).

When the student seeks to enrol in subjects for which they don’t meet the section 19-42 academic suitability provision: section 36-10(1)(ba). However this seems redundant, as a student not meeting section 19-42 provisions cannot be enrolled at all in that subject, and therefore the issue of how to finance it does not arise.

Students enrolled outside the public university system

For domestic students who are not at Table A universities, the default entitlement to a Commonwealth supported place is reversed and they are not entitled to a Commonwealth supported place except in limited circumstances.

To get a Commonwealth supported place, students must attend a higher education provider that has been allocated places in a ‘national priority’ area and meet the national priority conditions: section 30-10(4). Section 30-20 provides examples of what might be a national priority, including increasing enrolments in particular courses, increasing enrolments by particular types of persons, and increasing regional enrolments. 

The higher education provider decides which students receive a Commonwealth supported place. Once the place is allocated, the student can keep it for that course: section 36-25(1). A student in a non-Table A provider can be converted during their course from full-fee to Commonwealth supported, but not the other way around.

If not Commonwealth supported, the student must pay a tuition fee unless he or she is an exempt student: section 169-15(2). Exemptions include scholarships and limited cases of units of study that are work experience in industry: section 169-20 and the Administration Guidelines.