Finances and Centrelink FAQ

You can pay upfront with your credit card or you may be eligible for a HELP loan from the Australian government, depending on your citizenship status and where you'll be living during your studies.

Payment options are explained in Fees, and you can contact a student advisor for more information.

If you’re not an Australian citizen, permanent resident of Australia, or New Zealand citizen, your subject fees will be set at the international student rate. It’s slightly higher than the domestic student rate—an additional $250 for each undergraduate or postgraduate subject, that can vary depending on the university teaching the subject.

See subject pages for an indication of fees. Make sure you select 🌐 ‘International student’ to see the right estimate.

You must be:

• An Australian citizen residing in Australia for all or part of your studies or
• A New Zealand citizen who will be residing in Australia for the duration of your study or
• The holder of a permanent visa who will be residing in Australia for the duration of your studies and
• Able to meet the admission criteria for the degree you're applying for.

Your self-education costs may be tax deductible if they’re likely to result in a wage increase in your current employment. For more information, visit www.ato.gov.au or speak to your accountant.

Your residential address is the physical location where you live, permanently or temporarily, during your studies. You cannot use a post office box (PO box) as your residential address.

Your mailing address is where you receive your hard copy correspondence from us and your uni. This can be the same address as your residential address or a PO box.

HECS-HELP is a loan from the Australian Government, available to eligible students enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place. This loan allows you to defer your subject fees and then pay the loan back through the tax system once you reach the income threshold.

To find out more about HELP loans visit StudyAssist.

To be eligible for HECS-HELP, you must:

• Be enrolled in a subject as a Commonwealth supported place student and
• Be an Australian citizen residing in Australia for all or part of your studies or
• Be the holder of a permanent humanitarian visa, residing in Australia for the duration of your study or
• Be an eligible New Zealand citizen, residing in Australia for the duration of your study

Have questions regarding your eligibility for a HELP loan? Visit StudyAssist for more information.

FEE-HELP is a loan from the Australian Government that assists eligible students to pay their subject fees. FEE-HELP can cover all or part of your subject fees.

If you’re eligible for FEE-HELP, the Government will pay the amount of your loan directly to Open Universities Australia. You’ll start to repay your loan through the tax system when your income is above the minimum threshold for compulsory repayment.

To find out more about HELP loans, visit StudyAssist.

Your previous study does not affect your eligibility for FEE-HELP. However, if you’ve completed eight or more subjects through Open Universities Australia, you must have a 50 per cent pass rate to remain eligible.

Have questions regarding your eligibility for a HELP loan? Visit StudyAssist for more information.

You can make an upfront payment of a portion of your fees, and choose to defer 25 percent, 50 per cent or 75 per cent of your fees using FEE-HELP.

Visit Study Assist for more information.

If you’re an Australian citizen eligible for FEE-HELP, you can apply online during enrolment. Other eligible students can request a paper FEE-HELP form by contacting a student advisor.

You choose how many subjects you’ll study, depending on your individual circumstances. We recommend that you enrol in no more than two subjects, unless you're an experienced student with few or no other commitments. You cannot enrol in more than four subjects per study term unless you have a special arrangement with us.

There are no limits on how many subjects you can use FEE-HELP for in a study year. However, if you’ve completed eight subjects, regardless of your payment method, you must maintain a 50 per cent pass rate to remain eligible for FEE-HELP.

Yes, as long as you maintain a 50 per cent pass rate after completing eight subjects through Open Universities Australia.

Centrelink may query why your subjects are with a different university if they change from one study term to the next. When you study online through OUA, you’ll notice that some subjects come from unis other than the one awarding your degree—we call this flexible enrolment.

When you’re admitted into a degree, you’ll receive an email confirming your enrolment. You can use this email for employment and Centrelink purposes. We’re not able to supply verification documentation for students enrolled in single subjects only.

We’ll report your study load to Centrelink for the exam period, when your subject has a supervised exam. If your EFTSL meets the requirement for full-time study, then you'll receive an allowance for the exam period. Exam periods at the end of study periods overlap the next study period, so the EFTSL reported in the exam period is the EFTSL of your subject(s) with exams, and the EFTSL of any subjects you’re studying in the overlapping study period.

The study load of each subject is measured as equivalent full-time study load (EFTSL), a measure which is recognised by Centrelink.

To be considered full-time, you need to be enrolled in subjects which have a combined EFTSL of at least 0.250. This is normally two subjects, requiring 20–24 hours of study per week.

You can find each subject’s EFTSL on its subject page, or when you're comparing multiple subjects in your search results. Not all subjects have a standard EFTSL of 0.125, so it's best to check the EFTSL before enrolling in the subject.

Full-time study examples (EFTSL of 0.250 or more)

• You’re doing 2 subjects in Study Period 1, each with an EFTSL of 0.125, one of which has an exam in the exam period. You're also studying 2 subjects in Study Period 2, each with an EFTSL of 0.125. As the exam period overlaps the next study period, your EFTSL during the exam period is reported as 0.375 which meets the full-time study requirement.
• You’re doing 2 subjects in Study Period 1, each with EFTSL of 0.125, one of which has an exam in the exam period and 1 subject in Study Period 2 with an EFTSL of 0.125. As the exam period overlaps the next study period, your EFTSL during the exam period is reported as 0.250, which meets the fulltime study requirement.
• You’re doing 2 subjects in Semester 1, each with EFTSL of 0.125, and 2 subjects in Semester 2 each with EFTSL of 0.125. Your load in Semester 1 is reported as 0.250, in the gap between Semester 1 and 2 it is reported as 0, and in Semester 2 it is reported as 0.250. You would receive the allowance in each of the Semesters, but not in the break between.
• You’re doing 2 subjects in each of the 4 study periods and the subjects all have an EFTSL of 0.125. As study periods are back to back, your load will be reported as 0.250 every week of the year.
• You’re doing 2 subjects in Study Period 1, each with an EFTSL of 0.125, and 2 subjects in Study Period 3 each with an EFTSL of 0.125. Your load in Study Period 1 is reported as 0.250 for each week of the study period. During Study Period 2 your load is reported as 0, and in Study Period 3 it is reported as 0.250.

Part time example (EFTSL less than 0.250)

• You ‘re doing 1 subject in Study Period 1 with an EFTSL of 0.125 and you are not studying in the following study period. Your subject also has an exam. During the study period and the exam period, your EFTSL is reported as 0.125, which does not meet the full-time study requirement.

When applying to Centrelink, you'll need to provide an enrolment statement. The statement includes your e-reference number. You can download a copy from your Student Hub.

If you’re studying a postgraduate degree through OUA, you'll need to check with the Department of Human Services if it’s an approved course for government allowances.

EDC450 has both a teaching period and a work placement period. This subject is equivalent to full-time study. On our website, the subject shows an EFTSL of 0.5. This represents the 0.25 load during the 13-week teaching period, and the 0.25 load during the work placement period.

• Teaching period - During the teaching period, we report your study load as full-time to Centrelink.
• Work placement period - As this is organised via Curtin University, we don’t have a record of when it’s happening, so we don't automatically report study load to Centrelink. To receive an allowance during the work placement period, you'll need to contact us by emailing admin@open.edu.au to let us know you’re claiming Centrelink benefits. Then, we’ll add a work placement record for EDC450 to your account in our system, so we can report the study load to Centrelink during this period.

A CAN is a statement of your enrolment and a record of your use of Commonwealth assistance (your FEE-HELP loan) for a study term. Your CAN is a statement—it's not an invoice or a request for payment—and is for information purposes only.

Under Commonwealth legislation, higher education providers must issue a CAN to all Commonwealth assisted students within 28 days of the census date of the study term.

An eCAN is an electronic Commonwealth Assistance Notice (eCAN). It's the online version of a paper CAN. All students who are accessing the government loan scheme FEE-HELP, will have an eCAN generated for each census date which they have an enrolment.

Your CAN/eCAN includes:

• Your Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN), which is required for all students accessing Commonwealth assistance for higher education.
• Information about your enrolment and the HELP debt you've incurred for the study term.

Your CHESSN is the unique, personal identification number that was allocated to you when you started your higher education studies.

You need your CHESSN to login to myHELPbalance so you can find out your HELP loan balance.

To find your CHESSN, check your Electronic Commonwealth Assistance Notice (eCAN) in your Student Hub.

Need help finding your CHESSN? Visit StudyAssist for more information.

Sign in to your Student Hub and visit Statements and reports for assistance with a copy of your eCAN.

Your eCAN will be ready within 28 days of the study term you're enrolled in. All students who are Commonwealth supported and/or request FEE-HELP can request their eCAN by contacting us.

If you've enrolled in advance using FEE-HELP in later study terms, you'll receive eCANs detailing any additional liability relating to those study terms within 28 days of the relevant census date. Your eCAN will be updated 28 days after the census date.

Contact us if you believe your eCAN contains errors—you can lodge a request for issuing a new eCAN.

If you need a paper CAN, or you're unable to access your eCAN, contact us for help.