Commonwealth supported students

What is a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP)?

A CSP is a place at a university, available to domestic students, where the government pays part of your fees.

How does it work?

In a CSP, the tuition fees for your course of study are split into two parts:

Subsidy amount – the Australian Government pays this share of the tuition fees directly to Deakin.

Student contribution amount – you pay this share of the tuition fees. If eligible, you can use a HECS-HELP loan to pay your student contribution amount. Or you may choose to pay your fees up-front or use a combination of an up-front payment and a HECS-HELP loan. Please note: eligibility for CSP and HECS-HELP are not the same. You can learn more about HECS-HELP loans and eligibility on our webpage.

You may still have other fees to pay as part of your study, such as a Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) and academic services charges.

Am I eligible?

To be eligible for a CSP you must meet the following criteria:

you must be one of the following:
- an Australian citizen, who will complete some of your course of study while residing in Australia; or
- a New Zealand citizen; or an Australian permanent visa holder; or an eligible former permanent humanitarian visa holder; or
- a pacific engagement visa (PEV) holder who studies the entire course while living in Australia
you must have sufficient Student Learning Entitlement available to undertake your studies
you must provide your Unique Student Identifier (USI) to the University prior to the first census date.

Being eligible for a CSP does not mean that you will be offered a CSP, as not all courses have CSPs available. To find out whether you are enrolled in a fee-paying place or a CSP, check your course offer or view your invoice in StudentConnect.

How much will my fees be?

Your fees will depend on your course, the units you study and when you commenced your course. Your fees may vary each study period as your enrolled units change. You should view your invoice each study period to check your tuition fees and make sure your enrolment details are correct. You can use the Fee Estimator to estimate your course and unit fees.

You can pay your fees by using one of the options on your Deakin invoice.

If you withdraw early from a unit or your course, you may be eligible for a full or partial refund of fees.

Student Learning Entitlement

The Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) enables students to undertake seven years (7 EFTSL) of full-time subsidised study in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP). Any unit taken in a CSP that has a census date after 1 January 2022 will reduce your SLE balance by the EFTSL value of that unit. Your SLE balance reduces after each applicable census date.

To check your SLE balance, log into myHELPbalance. You will need your USI or CHESSN, student ID number and personal details to login.

Once you’ve used all your available SLE, you’ll be transferred to a full-fee paying place for the remainder of your studies. You will be contacted prior to this, however it remains your responsibility to check your SLE balance and make any adjustments to your enrolment required for your personal circumstances.

Some students may require more than 7 years full-time study to complete longer degrees. In this situation additional SLE is available for certain courses. The Australian Government will also offer you a Lifelong SLE for students looking to upskill/reskill and commence further study later in life. For more information on Additional and Lifelong SLE, visit the Australian Government's StudyAssist website. If you are approaching your SLE limit and need to discuss options relating to your study at Deakin, please contact Student Central.

Overloading two years of study in one year

If you are undertaking more than 2 years’ worth of study of higher education within 12 months (either at Deakin or Deakin and somewhere else), you must notify Student Central immediately as pre-approval is required to be eligible for a CSP.

If you are enrolled in a CSP and are planning to overload your course requirements by enrolling in additional units, please be aware these units are not eligible for your CSP subsidy. Any additional units to your course requirements will need to be undertaken on a non-award basis and charged at full-fee rates. FEE-HELP will also not be available. Before making any enrolment changes, please discuss your study plans and fee implications with a student adviser at Student Central.

Visit the StudyAssist website for detailed information about CSPs

Student contributions

2025 Student contributions

The Australian Government reviews CSP fees every year. Since 2021, CSP students are either commencing or 'grandfathered'. Some exclusion apply. Please refer to the grandfathering section below.

Students commenced in a new course (from 1 January 2021)

If you commenced your studies in a new course from 1 January 2021, please refer to the fee rates in the table below. The rates are applicable to students who enrolled for the first time, intermitted without studying, deferred a previous course offer, transferred course or re-admitted into a past discontinued course.

Commencing student contribution rates 2025

Study disciplines and their full rate or rate per credit point for 2025
Study disciplines	Amount for 8 credit points	Rate per credit point
Law, Accounting, Administration, Economics, Commerce, Communications, Society and Culture ^1&2	$16,992	$2,124
Education, Postgraduate Clinical Psychology³, English, Mathematics or Statistics, Nursing, Indigenous and Foreign Languages, Agriculture	$4,627	$578
Allied Health, Other Health, Built Environment, Computing, Visual and Performing Arts, Professional Pathway Psychology⁴ or Professional Pathway Social Work,⁵Engineering, Surveying, Environmental Studies or Science, Pathology	$9,314	$1,164
Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Science	$13,241	$1,655

Students continuing in the same course they were enrolled in prior to 2021 (grandfathering arrangement)⁶

For your current course, you will be considered a grandfathered student if you;

were enrolled at Deakin University before 1 January 2021 in a CSP and remained enrolled after the census date in a study period prior to 1 January 2021 and didn't complete your course before 1 January 2021.
are enrolled in an Honours degree and completed a related bachelor degree in a CSP before 1 January 2021. If your bachelor degree was undertaken at another university you will need to provide a copy of a Commonwealth Assistance Notice and transcript to show your pre-2021 CSP enrolment.
are enrolled as a cross-institutional student at Deakin University and considered a grandfathered CSP student at your home institution for the course the applicable studies being undertaken will be credited to. You need to provide a letter from your home institution and/or a copy of a Commonwealth Assistance Notice to show your pre-2021 CSP enrolment. You will only be offered a CSP if Deakin has one available to offer.
undertook an enabling course in 2020 and go on to study another course leading to a higher education award on or after 1 January 2021.
undertook an undergraduate certificate in 2020 and go on to study another course leading to a higher education award on or after 1 January 2021.

Continuing students contribution rates 2025 (grandfathering arrangement)⁶

Funding clusters and their full rate or rate per credit point for 2025 (grandfathering arrangement)⁶
Funding cluster	Part of funding cluster	Amount for 8 credit points	Rate per credit point
Funding cluster 1 Law, Accounting, Administration, Economics, Commerce, Communications, Society and Culture	Law, Accounting, Administration, Economics, or Commerce	$13,305	$1663
	Any other subpart of the Society and Culture part of the first funding cluster	$7,973	$996
	The Social Studies or Behavioural Science subpart of the Society and Culture part of the new first funding cluster	$7973	$996
	Communications	$7973	$996
Funding cluster 2 Education, Postgraduate Clinical Psychology, English, Mathematics, Statistics, Allied Health, Other Health, Built Environment, Computing, Visual and Performing Arts, Professional Pathway Psychology, Professional Pathway Social Work	Education, Postgraduate Clinical Psychology, English, Mathematics or Statistics	$4627	$578
	Allied Health, Other Health, Built Environment or Computing	$9314	$1164
	Visual and Performing Arts	$7973	$996
	Professional Pathway Psychology or Professional Pathway Social Work	$7973	$996
Funding cluster 3 Nursing, Indigenous and Foreign Languages, Engineering, Surveying, Environmental Studies, Science	Nursing, Indigenous and Foreign Languages	$4627	$578
	Engineering, Surveying, Environmental Studies or Science	$9314	$1164
Funding cluster 4 Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Pathology	Agriculture	$4627	$578
	Medicine, Dentistry or Veterinary Science	$13241	$1655
	Pathology	$9314	$1164

Footnotes

^{1.Excluding Postgraduate Clinical Psychology units, which are in funding cluster 2 (see note 3), and excluding Professional Pathway Psychology units with FOE codes starting with 0907 which are in cluster 2 (see note 4).
2.Excluding Professional Pathway Social Work units with FOE codes starting with 0905 which are in cluster 2 (see note 5).
3.Postgraduate Clinical Psychology units of study are in funding cluster 2 and are psychology units of study (FOE code 090701) that contribute to courses of study that are accredited for the purposes of professional registration by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and which lead to Endorsed Areas of Practice in Clinical Psychology, Clinical Neuropsychology, Counselling Psychology, Educational and Developmental Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Health Psychology, Sports Psychology and Community Psychology.
4.Professional Pathway Psychology units of study are Behavioural Science units (with FOE codes starting with 0907) that contribute to courses of study that lead to a bachelors degree, honours degree or masters degree in psychology with a course structure that makes it compulsory to study the units relevant to professional registration as a psychologist by the Psychology Board of Australia, and the course of study represents a pathway to professional registration as a psychologist.
5.Professional Pathway Social Work units of study are Human Welfare Studies and Services units (with FOE codes starting with 0905) that contribute to courses of study that lead to a bachelors degree, honours degree or masters degree in social work accredited by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), youth work accredited by Youth Work Australia, counselling accredited by the Australian Counsellors Association and/or the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia and community work accredited by the Australian Community Workers Association.
6.New funding clusters and contribution amounts took effect in the 2021 academic year. Grandfathering arrangements are in place for students who would see an increase in their contribution amounts. Under these arrangements, students who commenced their course of study before 1 January 2021 facing increased student contribution amounts for a unit, have their student contribution and Australian Government contribution amounts remain as they were under the previous arrangements (with existing rates being indexed by CPI each year). If continuing students are enrolled in units that will see their student contribution amount lowered, their student contributions will be the lowered amount and the Australian Government contribution would be the new rate. That is, there will be no “mixing’ of old and new rates for a unit. Grandfathering arrangements are set out in the Higher Education Support Amendment (Job -Ready Graduates and Supporting Regional and Remote Students) Act 2020 and Explanatory Memorandum.}

Understanding your fees

Learn how to view your invoice and how your fees are calculated based on your place type.