Tertiary education fees in Australia are payable for courses at tertiary education institutions. Responsibility for fees in vocational education and training (VET) rests primarily with the state and territory governments, while fees policy in higher education is largely controlled by the Commonwealth Government.
For most domestic students in higher education, the Commonwealth Government provides loans, subsidies, and/or social security welfare payments & benefits to relieve the cost of tertiary education. These benefits are not available to international students. Some domestic students are supported by the government and are required to pay only part of the cost of tuition, called the "student contribution", and the government pays the balance. Some government supported students can defer payment of their contribution as a HECS-HELP loan. Other domestic students are full fee-paying (non-Commonwealth supported) and do not receive direct government contribution to the cost of their education. Some domestic students in full fee courses can obtain a FEE-HELP loan from the Australian government up to a lifetime limit of $150,000 for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science programs and $104,440 for all other programs.
Student fees for vocational education vary between jurisdictions, with some states implementing fee-free courses in some fields and all offering some form of government subsidised training. Funding responsibilities for student fee subsidies are agreed between state and territory governments and the Commonwealth under the National Skills Agreement which commenced at the start of 2024.
Australian citizens (and in some cases overseas professionals completing bridging studies in order to be accredited permanent residents) are able to obtain loans from the government under the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) which replaced the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS). As of April 2016, the amount of money owed to the Australian government under the HECS scheme was AUD$60 billion and is expected to increase to $180 billion by 2026.
HELP is jointly administered by the Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). In addition, qualified students may be entitled to Youth Allowance or Austudy Payment to assist them financially while they are studying. These support payments are means and assets tested. Further assistance is available in the form of scholarships. Overseas students are charged fees for the full cost of their education and are ineligible for HELP loans, but may apply for international scholarships.
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