Low completion rate

Any student who commences a course on or after 1 January 2022 and is:

• Enrolling in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP); and/or
• Receiving HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP loans

If you commence a course as a new student on or after 1 January 2022 and currently receive commonwealth assistance (access to a CSP and/or HELP loans), you must maintain a minimum completion rate.

This also applies to continuing students who transfer into a new course on or after 1 January 2022. If you fall below this threshold during your studies, you will be deemed to have a low completion rate and will not be eligible for commonwealth assistance.

A low completion rate means that you have not successfully completed at least 50 per cent of the units you have attempted. This calculation is taken from the point you have completed:

• 8 or more units of study in a Bachelor level or higher course; or
• 4 or more units in a higher education course lower than a bachelor course

Successfully completed units include:

• Passed units with a grade of satisfactory, pass, credit, distinction and high distinction
• Units granted as an exemption on the basis of recognition of prior learning (RPL) where the prior learning was completed in or after 2022

Units counted as unsuccessful include:

• Failed units
• Any units where you have withdrawn after the census date and received a ‘withdrawn’ grade

Note that the following does not count towards the calculation:

• Any unit granted approved for withdrawal without penalty
• RPL that has been granted on the basis of units completed prior to 2022. This includes any students who transfer to a new course and receive credit for units studied prior to 2022
• RPL where unspecified credit is granted towards a flexible or elective set

If you have a low completion rate, you will be notified within 10 business days of the result publication date for the study period.

If you have an incomplete grade finalised prior to the census date of the next study period, your completion rate will be recalculated and you will be notified if there is a change. If an incomplete grade is finalised after the census date of the next study period, your completion rate will be recalculated at the result publication date of that next study period.

Your completion rate is locked in at the census date and no further changes will be made until the result publication date of the next study period. For example, if you are on a low completion rate on the census date of Session 1, your completion rate will remain until the result publication date of Session 1 and a recalculation will occur on this date.

To continue your studies, you can:

• Pay for units upfront
  
  If you are a Domestic Fee-Paying student on a low completion rate, you will need to pay your fee up-front and won’t be eligible for FEE-HELP. Check your fees on the fees calculator.
  
  If you were enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) and are now on a low completion rate, domestic fee-paying rates will now apply to you which will need to be paid up-front and you won’t be eligible for HECS-HELP. Check your undergraduate full fee rates below.

• Transfer to a new undergraduate or postgraduate course. If you change to a new course, your previous completion rate will not carry over and you will be able to access Commonwealth assistance for your new course. If you change to a new curriculum year of the same named course (for example, from a 2022 Bachelor of Arts to a 2024 Bachelor of Arts), your previous completion rate will carry over.

• If you had exceptional circumstances during your studies, you may apply for withdrawal without penalty

If your completion rate improves to 50% or higher, you will be eligible to access commonwealth assistance again in the next study period. Your commonwealth support and/or HELP loan cannot be retrospectively applied to units completed while you were paying your fees upfront.