Higher education fees

Changes to fee-paying undergraduate places in 2009

The Australian Government has announced that it will phase out full-fee undergraduate places from 1 January 2009 in public universities. However, the Government has announced that it will replace these places with up to 11,000 new Commonwealth Supported Places (CSP) by 2011. Therefore, expectations are that there will be more CSP places on offer at RMIT University in 2009.

New domestic students
There will be no full-fee places at RMIT University offered through VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admission Centre) for new domestic students in undergraduate programs in 2009. If you were offered a full-fee place in 2008 but chose to defer, the full-fee place will remain open for you to take up in 2009.

Current fee-paying Australian students
If you are a currently enrolled full-fee Australian student, you can continue to complete your degree as a full-fee student. RMIT University's scheme of allowing high achieving, full-fee paying, undergraduate students to transfer to CSP places is still in existence for any student who enrolled in 2008 or earlier.

Exemptions
There are some exemptions to the Government's prohibition on new full-fee undergraduate places which will affect a very small number of applicants and students. These include applicants who:

  • have consumed all of their Student Learning Entitlement (SLE)
  • are enrolling in a full-fee Spring or Summer School
  • are enrolling in a bridging course for overseas trained professionals
  • are enrolling in a unit that forms part of a course of study that is subject to determination by the Minister specifying that a student cannot be enrolled as a Commonwealth supported student
  • have commenced their course of study as an overseas student and become a domestic student part way through their course
  • do not fall into the above categories but who wish to apply for a full-fee place

Such applicants would need to apply directly to RMIT University for a full-fee place.

↑ page menu

Student contributions and tuition fees

All students studying a higher education program (undergraduate, honours, graduate certificate, graduate diploma, master or doctorate) at RMIT are required to pay something towards the running cost of their program - this is called a 'student contribution'.

How much you may pay will depend on what kind of place you hold:

  • Commonwealth supported students pay student contributions
  • Domestic full-fee paying students pay tuition fees
  • International students pay tuition fees

In addition to the program costs there may be other fees and charges such as material fees (e.g. lab coats, stationery, excursions). To determine the full cost of an enrolment in a program applicants need to add any material fees that may be applicable, to the student contribution/tuition fees outlined below.

Fees are directly linked to the number of credit points or study load that students are enrolled in—changing the number of credit points by adding or dropping a course changes the fee charged.

Fees are held constant for the current year, however RMIT may increase domestic full-fees in future years by a maximum of 7.5% each year. Student contribution amounts are capped by Commonwealth Government regulation. Any fee increases will be applied from the beginning of each calendar year.

↑ page menu

Commonwealth supported students

Commonwealth supported students are required to make a student contribution that partially covers the tuition costs of their enrolment. The student contribution for a program is the sum of the contributions for each of the courses enrolled in for that year. The contributions for each course are calculated using the weight of the course (in EFTSL) and the band that the course falls within.

Only students who are:
a) Australian citizens;
b) New Zealand citizens; or
c) hold an Australian Permanent Resident Visa,
are eligible to apply for a Commonwealth supported place.

Some Commonwealth-supported students are eligible to defer payment of their student contribution via HECS-HELP, or to receive a discount for paying their student contribution up-front. Some Commonwealth-supported students are not eligible for a discount or to defer payment and must pay their student contribution up-front.

↑ page menu

Research programs student contribution

Unless the students are international or Australian full-fee students, the research students will be at RMIT on a funded place.

A funded place means that students are exempt from paying the Student Contribution Amount and their tuition costs are funded by the Commonwealth Government. The time allowed for students to complete their research degrees and still be on funded places is very strict. A condition of receiving a funded place is that the student completes the program in the allotted time, i.e. a maximum of two years for a full-time Master by Research or four years for a PhD (or the equivalent part-time).

↑ page menu

Domestic full-fee students

Domestic full-fee students are required to pay a tuition fee that covers the full tuition costs of their enrolment. The tuition fee for a program is based on the number of credit points that a student is enrolled in and the fee-per-credit-point for that program in the current year.

Only students who are:
a) Australian citizens;
b) New Zealand citizens; or
c) hold an Australian Permanent Resident Visa,
are eligible to apply for a full-fee place.

Some domestic full-fee students are eligible to defer payment of their tuition fees via FEE-HELP.

Calculating tuition costs for domestic fee-paying students including FEE-HELP information

↑ page menu

International students

A student is considered to be an international student if they are not an Australian or New Zealand citizen, and do not hold an Australian Permanent Resident Visa.

International student fee information

↑ page menu