This is the transcript for the video Undergraduate fees for domestic students at UTS
Hi, I’m Jess from the UTS Future Students Team. Today’s video will cover the important things you need to know about undergraduate fees for domestic students including: how tuition fees are charged for undergraduate study at UTS, what is a Commonwealth Supported Place and HECS-HELP, how to find and calculate your tuition fees, Invoicing and paying fees, what is the student services and amenities fee.
You’re a domestic student if you’re an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen or hold an Australian permanent resident visa.
All domestic undergraduate students will enrol in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP). This means the Australian government makes a substantial contribution towards the cost of your course, and you pay the balance through student contributions.
Your student contribution amount is calculated per subject based on the credit point value of the subject and the fee band the subject belongs to. Every year the government set fee bands according to the broad areas of study. Keep in mind that subjects in the same course may fall in different fee bands depending on area of study.
In June 2020 the Australian Government announced the Job-ready Graduates Package. Proposed changes affect student contributions and provide additional support for students in regional and remote Australia. The majority of these changes will commence on 1 January 2021, subject to the passage of legislation.
Your fees are based on the subjects you enrol in. The UTS course pages show you a list of subjects undertaken in your course, so you can check this out before you use the fee calculator.
Go to fees.uts.edu.au
You will land on the understanding fees page. You can then click “Tuition fee search” on the left hand side panel
After that you will see three blue boxes. Click on the middle box, ‘Search fees by subject’ under For Commonwealth Supported Place
We’re now on the UTS fee calculator – and there are couple things we have to fill in. So I’ll use the example of ‘Chemistry 1’ in 2020:
a. Fee year: 2020
b. Subject number or name: you can put in the subject code or all or part of the course name. So I’ll type in Chemistry 1
c. Course area: you can choose the faculty or you can choose all
d. Commencement Year: 2010 or later
e. Click search
The result should come up like a table on the screen. From here, you can see the 1st three result which is matching to Chemistry 1. First column is the Subject code. Then subject name. Followed by the Session and the Census date. The 4th column is the credit point value by EFTSL (Equivalent Full-Time Study Load) Government Band. The last column is the Fee amount – which is the tuition fee amount for the subject
If you hover your mouse over the question marks, it will have the explanation as well. The key also describes what each of the columns mean.
As I mentioned earlier, depending on the subject area, subjects within a course may fall in different fee bands. Therefore, you may see a mix of different student contribution amount on your invoice.
Now onto invoicing fees. Your tuition fees are charged per session based on the number of subjects and the associated credit points you enrol in.
The UTS Fees team will start emailing students approximately 4-6 weeks prior to the due dates to advise the invoice is available. You can then request the invoice from the student portal called MYSTUDENTADMIN. It will be sent to your UTS student email account.
Please make sure you are always aware of the due date for you fees each session so your enrolment is not put at risk.
Depending on your residency status, you will have one of the following options available to you:
- you may be eligible to defer the amount of your fees through HECS-HELP, or
- you may make an upfront payment of the student contribution amount directly to the university
If you are an Australian Citizen, Permanent Humanitarian Visa holder or a New Zealand Citizen on a special category visa (SCV), you will be eligible for the HECS-HELP loan. You just need to provide your Tax File number when completing the “Request for Commonwealth support and HECS-HELP” form during the offer acceptance process.
You can also pay your student contribution upfront if you wish, and can also switch between using HECS-HELP and paying upfront each session.
If you don’t have a Tax File Number already – we suggest you apply for one now through the Australian Taxation Office.
Ordinary Permanent Residents and NZ citizens that do not have a special category visa must make an upfront payment each session and are not eligible for HECS-HELP.
There is no interest on a HECS-HELP loan but the HELP debt you incur will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index. There is a lifetime HELP loan limit and changes as year on year as the loan limit is indexed each year.
Your HELP debt is repaid through the Australian Taxation Office once your income reaches the designated threshold. For example, for the financial year 2020-2021 it’s $46,620.
Apart from tuition fees, there is also a ‘Student Services and Amenities Fee’ which is used to support student services like counselling, financial advice, student advocacy and legal services as well as food services, sporting and recreational activities.
This fee is charged in Autumn and Spring sessions based on your study load. For example, in Spring 2020, if you enrolled full-time (18 credit points or above) you would have been charged a full-time rate of $154, for part-time students they would have been charged $77.
Eligible students can also apply for SA-HELP to defer this fee.
As well as tuition fees, there may be other costs associated with studying, such as textbooks, materials, uniforms, travel and living expenses.
I hope this video has been useful and that you’ve learnt more about undergraduate fees at UTS. If you’d like more information you can always visit our website fees.uts.edu.au.