What a Commonwealth Supported Place is
A Commonwealth Supported Place subsidises the cost of your degree. We explain how the subsidy is set, how the student contribution bands work, and which courses qualify.
A Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) is a place at a public university where the Australian Government pays part of your tuition direct to the university. The amount you owe is called the student contribution, and it is much smaller than the full course fee.
How the subsidy is set
The Department of Education allocates every unit of study to a funding cluster based on its discipline, and that sets the maximum student contribution a university can charge. The 2026 maximums per full-time year (one EFTSL) are:
| Disciplines | 2026 maximum per full-time year |
|---|---|
| Education, postgraduate clinical psychology, English, mathematics and statistics, nursing, Indigenous and foreign languages, agriculture | $4,738 |
| Allied health, other health, built environment, computing, visual and performing arts, professional pathway psychology and social work, engineering, surveying, environmental studies, science, pathology | $9,537 |
| Medicine, dentistry, veterinary science | $13,558 |
| Law, accounting, administration, economics, commerce, communications, society and culture (including most humanities) | $17,399 |
A degree mixes units, so your total depends on the units you take: a three-year degree made entirely of $17,399 units would cost $52,197 at 2026 rates, while three years of $4,738 units would cost $14,214. Universities can charge less than the maximum, and the amounts are indexed each year. The Government pays its own contribution to the university on top of yours.
The bands have moved over time. The 2020 Job-Ready Graduates package moved humanities to the top band alongside law and commerce, and put teaching, nursing, English and maths in the lowest band, to reweight student contributions towards courses with what the package describes as "national priority" labour-market outcomes.
Eligibility
To be Commonwealth-supported you must:
- Be an Australian citizen, an eligible permanent humanitarian visa holder, or a New Zealand citizen meeting the long-term residency rules.
- Be enrolled at an Australian public university or one of a small number of approved non-university providers.
- Meet the up-front student-contribution payment rules at census date, or use HECS-HELP to defer the payment.
International students are not eligible for a CSP. They pay full international tuition fees.
How HECS-HELP fits in
If you have a CSP and you cannot pay the student contribution up front, you can apply for HECS-HELP at enrolment. The Government pays the contribution direct to your university on your behalf and adds the same amount to your HELP debt.
See our HECS-HELP explainer for the repayment mechanics.
The information here is general and explanatory only.
Sources
- https://www.studyassist.gov.au/paying-your-course-fees/commonwealth-supported-place-csp
- https://www.education.gov.au/job-ready-graduates-package
- https://www.studyassist.gov.au/financial-and-study-support/commonwealth-supported-places/student-contribution-amounts
- https://www.education.gov.au/higher-education-loan-program/help-providers/funding-clusters-and-indexed-rates