What is a Commonwealth Supported Place?

A Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) is a higher education place, in which the Australian Government makes a contribution to your higher education provider (in this case, the UC) towards the cost of your education. What this essentially means is that the Government subsidises part of your University fees, making your fees much lower.

Every year, the Government allocates a certain amount of CSPs to higher education providers. These places are allocated to students who meet the eligibility requirements for a CSP. To meet these requirements you must:

• Be enrolled in a unit before the census date for that semester and remain enrolled in this unit until after this date.

• Complete and submit a Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP before the census date for that semester

• Meet the citizenship/residency requirements –

1. You must be an Australia Citizen, or

2. A New Zealand citizen who will be resident in Australia for the duration of your unit, or

3. The holder of a permanent visa who will be resident in Australia for the dration of your unit.

Please note that further conditions/exceptions may apply to this requirement

 • Have sufficient Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) to cover the unit/s you are enrolled in. SLE is allocated to eligible students by the Government and is essentially a limit on how much study you can do as a Commonwealth Supported Student. Generally students are allocated the equivalent of 7 years of full time study as a Commonwealth Supported Student, though in some cases, further SLE may be available to some students.

If you are enrolled in a unit of study as a Commonwealth Supported Student, you will generally be required to contribute to the cost of your education through a student contribution (your course fees). This amount will be set out by the university’s Enrolments and Fees office in accordance with Government precincts. If you meet the eligibility requirements for HECS-HELP, you may be able to defer this amount, rather than paying it upfront.

For further information regarding Commonwealth Supported Places and to check whether you are eligible for HECS-HELP, please click here.