What is a Commonwealth supported place?
A Commonwealth supported place is a subsidised enrolment at university. The Australian Government subsidises a Commonwealth supported place by paying part of the fees for the place directly to the university and the student pays the remainder of the fees through a 'student contribution' amount.
Commonwealth supported places are only available to domestic students. These places are available in all undergraduate courses at UWA and some postgraduate courses.
To be eligible for a Commonwealth supported place, you must:
- be an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen or the holder of a permanent visa;
- meet the citizenship and residency requirements;
- enrol in each unit by the census date;
- submit a valid Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP form to UWA by the census date; and
- finalise your payment arrangements for your student contributions by the census date.
Australian citizens and permanent humanitarian visa holders who are enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place can use the HECS-HELP scheme to help them pay their student contributions.
New Zealand citizens and permanent visa holders enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place must pay their student contribution upfront to UWA by the census date. If their student contribution amount is left unpaid after the census date then UWA will cancel a student's Commonwealth supported place.
If you are not enrolled as a Commonwealth supported student, you will be enrolled as a fee paying student. This means the Government does not subsidise your education and you will need to pay the tuition fees set by UWA. Some fee paying students are eligible for a FEE-HELP loan to pay their tuition fees.
The Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP)
The Government administers the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) which consists of five HELP loans schemes to assist students with the cost of their fees. The right loan for you will depend on your circumstances, eligibility and where you want to study. For further information please visit StudyAssist : HELP Loans.
The Australian Government sets limits on combined HELP loan amount – the cap on what you can borrow from the Australian Government to cover the costs of your tuition fees. Students eligible for HELP can only defer tuition fees up to their combined HELP limit. Students are responsible for managing their HELP usage and must pay upfront any tuition fees that exceed their available HELP balance. Refer to StudyAssist for further details regarding HELP.
What is EFTSL?
Equivalent full-time student load (EFTSL) is a measure of the study load for a year of a student undertaking a course on a full-time basis.
The EFTSL value assigned to each unit of study taken in a course represents the workload in the unit as a proportion of the standard annual workload normally undertaken by a full-time student in that course. These calculations are normally based on the credit point values for coursework degrees. Therefore, a 6 point unit taken in a course for which 48 points constitutes a standard annual workload would be assigned 6/48 = 0.125 EFTSL. The same unit taken in a degree with 50 points in a standard year would be assigned 6/50 = 0.12 EFTSL.
Domestic Undergraduate and Postgraduate Commonwealth Supported Students
Psychology HECS Fees
New HECS fees for psychology came into place from 2021.
Psychology is within the Humanities broader discipline and are now HECS band 4 for the majority of students who commence in 2021 onwards.
The four courses listed below have been approved at this point in time as pathway programs for psychology, and therefore are eligible for the Australian Government Professional Pathway funding rates (HECS band 2). This means that Commonwealth Supported Place students in the accredited units in these specific courses will receive a discounted rate instead of the full rate displayed in this Fee Calculator.
- Bachelor of Psychology
- Bachelor of Psychology (Honours)
- Bachelor of Psychology and Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Psychology and Bachelor of Commerce
Every non-exempt student enrolled in a Commonwealth supported unit of study must pay the student contribution amount for the unit.
This amount depends on the funding cluster to which units of study are allocated.
Units of study are allocated to funding clusters according to their discipline under the Australian Standard Classification of Education.
The maximum student contribution amounts for a particular year are published by the Department of Education.
When calculating the student contribution amount for a unit, the formula is the student contribution amount for a place set by UWA for the unit multiplied by the EFTSL value of the unit.
Example: Sandra has enrolled in MATH1001 as part of her Bachelor of Science degree. UWA has set the student contribution amount for a place at $3,985 (the maximum permitted) for that unit of study in 2022. The EFTSL value for MATH1001 is 0.125 EFTSL (6/48). Therefore, Sandra's student contribution amount for MATH1001 will be 3,985 X 0.125 = $498.125
The table below shows the student contribution amounts for a student place (EFTSL), by discipline, in 2022:
| Unit discipline | 2022 annual contribution for a standard (one EFTSL) full-time load (usually 48 credit points) | Approximate student contribution for a 6 credit point unit (0.125 EFTSL) |
|---|---|---|
| Law, Accounting, Commerce, Economics, Administration, Communications, Society and Culture[1]&[2] | $14,630 | $1,828 |
| AgricultureEducation, Postgraduate Clinical Psychology[3], English, Mathematics & StatisticsNursing, Indigenous and Foreign Languages | $3,985 | $498 |
| Allied health, Other health, Built environment, Computing, Visual and Performing Arts,Professional Pathway Psychology[4] and Professional Pathway Social Work[5] Engineering,Science, Surveying, Environmental Studies Pathology | $8,021 | $1002 |
| Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science | $11,401 | $1,425 |
Notes:
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 (s 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 bachelor's degree, honours degree or master's 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 which itself 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 bachelor's degree, honours degree or master's degree in:
a. Social work accredited by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW).
b. Youth work accredited by Youth Work Australia;
c. Counselling accredited by the Australian Counsellors Associations and/or the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia; and
d. Community work accredited by the Australian Community Workers Association
6. The combined HELP loan limit is a cap on what you can borrow from the Australian Government to cover the costs of your tuition fees. For more information visit Study Assist.
Domestic Coursework Fee-Paying Students
This category of student is charged per credit point at a rate dependent only on the course in which the student is enrolled (see Fee Calculator for the fees charged).
The Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP)
The Government administers the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) which consists of five HELP loans schemes to assist students with the cost of their fees. The right loan for you will depend on your circumstances, eligibility and where you want to study. For further information please visit StudyAssist : HELP Loans.
The Australian Government sets limits on combined HELP loan amount – the cap on what you can borrow from the Australian Government to cover the costs of your tuition fees. Students eligible for HELP can only defer tuition fees up to their combined HELP limit. Students are responsible for managing their HELP usage and must pay upfront any tuition fees that exceed their available HELP balance. Refer to StudyAssist for further details regarding HELP.
Domestic Higher Degree by Research Preliminary Students
Students in these courses are full fee-paying but their fees are calculated in the same way, and charged at the same rate, as Commonwealth supported students.
Domestic Higher Degree Research Students
All higher degree research students at UWA are funded under the Commonwealth Government's Research Training Program (RTP) and are therefore fee exempt for the duration of the course, up to a maximum of four years full-time equivalent study for a doctorate by research and two years full-time equivalent study for a master's by research.
Domestic Non-Award Students
Fees for domestic non-award students are calculated similarly to Commonwealth supported students (i.e. EFTSL multiplied by funding cluster rate for the unit's discipline) but using the rates in the table below:
| Unit discipline | Unit discipline 2022 Fee per EFTSL |
|---|---|
| Law, Accounting, Administration, Economics, Commerce | $13,714 |
| Society & Culture | $13,147 |
| The Social Studies or Behavioural Science | $17,979 |
| Communications | $20,533 |
| Education, Postgraduate Clinical psychology, English, Mathematics or Statistics | $17,354 |
| Allied health, Other Health, Computing, Built Environment | $21,390 |
| Visual and Performing arts | $20,533 |
| Professional Pathway Psychology or Professional Pathway Social Work | $17,979 |
| Nursing, Indigenous and Foreign languages | $20,381 |
| Engineering, Surveying , Environmental Studies or Science | $24,417 |
| Agriculture | $31,228 |
| Medicine, Dentistry, Veterinary Science | $38,664 |
| Pathology | $35,264 |
International Onshore Undergraduate Students
Students who commenced an undergraduate course in 2015 or later are charged a fee per credit point which depends on the course in which they are enrolled. The fees for 2022 are:
| Course Code | Course Name | Total Course Credit Points | Annual Credit Points | 2022 annual fee | Fee per credit point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BP001 | Bachelor of Arts | 144 | 48 | $34,200 | $712 |
| BP002 | Bachelor of Commerce | 144 | 48 | $40,900 | $852 |
| BP004 | Bachelor of Science | 144 | 48 | $41,500 | $864 |
| BP006 | Bachelor of Biomedical Science | 144 | 48 | $41,500 | $864 |
| BH005 | Bachelor of Philosophy (Honours) | 192 | 48 | $44,300 | $922 |
Students who started their course earlier than 2015 are charged by unit of study using the usual formula of EFTSL multiplied by the unit's discipline funding cluster rate. The rates for 2022 are as follows:
| Unit discipline | Fee per EFTSL |
|---|---|
| Humanities, behavioural science, clinical psychology, social studies, education, foreign languages, visual and performing arts | $32,200 |
| Architecture and building | $37,400 |
| Law, accounting, commerce, economics, administration, mathematics, statistics, computing, other health | $39,400 |
| Agriculture, dentistry, medicine, veterinary science, allied health, medical science, nursing | $40,100 |
International Onshore Postgraduate Coursework Students, and International Higher Degree by Research Students
Students in these categories are charged a fee per credit point which depends on the course in which they are enrolled. Please see Fee Calculator for the annual course charges.