What this page is. An account of what studying in Australia costs, built only from figures an Australian authority actually publishes. Australia is unusual: the government sets and publishes the money you must pay it, and publishes almost nothing about what a degree costs. This page now says so. We earn nothing from where you apply, and we link no university, agent or recruiter. See our editorial policy and how education agents earn.
What this page got wrong before 5 August 2026
Until today this page published eight money figures and credited them, collectively, to “Study Australia, AECC and GoStudyIn”. Two of those three are commercial education agents: companies that are paid a commission by a university when a student enrols. This site does not build a cost claim on a source that is paid when you act on it, and both names have been removed from the page. Study Australia, the genuine government source among the three, was read again today and publishes none of the figures that had been attributed to it.
Every one of the following has been withdrawn rather than corrected, because there is no published figure to correct it against.
- “AUD 20,000 to 50,000” tuition, “median around AUD 38,500” for undergraduate study, “AUD 44,000” for postgraduate coursework, and “AUD 90,000 to 126,000” for medicine, veterinary science and MBA programmes. No Australian government body publishes an average or a median international tuition fee. Each provider publishes its own schedule, and that schedule is the only place the number is real.
- “AUD 55,000 to 90,000 per year in total”. That was a sum of the withdrawn figures above, so it inherited all of their faults and added arithmetic to them.
- “AUD 1,500 to 2,500 a month” for living costs. Study Australia’s own living cost material carries a note that its guide figures were last updated in November 2023 and are approximate. It publishes no monthly band.
- “AUD 477 to 712 per year” for Overseas Student Health Cover. OSHC premiums are set by the private insurers approved to sell it. No government publishes a price.
What the Australian government does publish
| What it is | Published figure | Who publishes it, and when we read it |
|---|---|---|
| Student visa (subclass 500) application charge | From AUD 2,500 per application, from 1 July 2026 | Study Australia (Australian Government), Student visa subclass 500. Read 5 Aug 2026 |
That charge is worth pausing on, because it has moved twice in three years and it moved sharply. It is payable per application, it is not refunded when an application is refused, and it applies to each family member who applies with you. A refusal therefore costs the charge twice if you apply again.
The financial capacity requirement, read at the Department of Home Affairs
Verified 5 August 2026. After four consecutive sessions in which this source could not be read, the Department of Home Affairs subclass 500 page was reached and read in full on 5 August 2026. The figures below are taken directly from it. The page itself carries a last updated date of 1 July 2026.
The Department publishes twelve month living cost amounts that a student visa applicant must be able to evidence. For a student the amount is AUD 29,710. For a partner accompanying the student it is AUD 10,394, and for an accompanying child it is AUD 4,449. Where a stay is shorter than twelve months the Department instructs applicants to calculate pro rata by dividing the annual amount by 365 and multiplying by the number of days of intended stay.
Those three amounts are set in law, not by the page that reports them. They are specified in Migration (LIN 19/198: Evidence of financial capacity, Subclass 500 Visa and Subclass 590 Visa) Instrument 2019, as amended by LIN 24/042 and in force in that form since 10 May 2024. Read at the Federal Register of Legislation on 6 August 2026, the instrument specifies AUD 29,710 for the student, AUD 10,394 for a spouse or de facto partner, and AUD 4,449 for a dependent child, which are the same figures the Department publishes. We cite the instrument as well as the Department because a legislative instrument carries its own compilation date and amendment history, so you can check for yourself whether these amounts have moved since we read them.
Living costs are only one component. The Department requires evidence covering living costs, the first twelve months of course fees, travel, and school fees for any accompanying school age children. Amounts already paid may be deducted where you can evidence the payment, for example with a receipt or a Confirmation of Enrolment.
There is an alternative to showing funds. The Department states that an applicant may instead evidence that a parent or partner had a personal annual income of at least AUD 87,856 in the twelve months before applying, rising to at least AUD 102,500 where family members are included in the application. Where both parents work, the Department says their combined income can be considered.
The Department also gives the legislative basis for these requirements, which is the instrument on evidence of financial capacity for the subclass 500 and subclass 590 visas. That is the document to read if you need the rule rather than the summary.
The visa application charge is stated as from AUD 2,500, with concessions applying in limited circumstances, including for eligible Pacific Island and Timor-Leste citizens, eligible ASEAN citizens, and applicants in the ELICOS and Non-Award sectors.
Read these at the publisher before you rely on them. They are set by the Department, they change on dates the Department chooses, and this page states only what was on that page on 5 August 2026.
Working while studying in Australia, read at the same source
Verified 5 August 2026. The Department states that this visa allows the holder to work up to 48 hours a fortnight when the course of study or training is in session. This closes a gap that was previously recorded on this page as unread. As with everything above, the condition attached to your own grant is the one that governs you, and it is visible in your own visa grant notice.
How Australian tuition is actually structured
Understanding the structure is more durable than any figure, because the structure has not changed in years and the figures change annually.
- International fees are set per provider, per course, per year of commencement. The fee attached to your offer is normally the fee for your commencing year, with an indexation clause for later years. Read that clause. It is the difference between a three year degree costing what you were quoted and costing noticeably more.
- Fees are commonly quoted per unit or per credit point, then annualised. A standard full time load is what turns the unit rate into the year rate. If you study a heavier or lighter load, your bill moves.
- The Confirmation of Enrolment is the document that matters. Your visa application is built on it, and the fee figure it carries is the one the Department sees.
- Overseas Student Health Cover is mandatory and is bought separately. You must hold it for the whole period of your visa, and it is normally paid up front for the full duration rather than annually.
The costs that are structural rather than published
These are the ones that catch people, and none of them appear in any headline figure.
- The bond and the first month together. Australian rental practice commonly requires a bond plus rent in advance, payable before you have any local rental history. That is the largest single cash demand most students meet in their first fortnight.
- Distance. Australian cities are large and campuses are often not central. A cheaper suburb with a long commute is not always cheaper once transport is counted, and student transport concessions are not available to international students in every state.
- The gap before work is possible. Work rights attach to the visa, but a tax file number, a bank account and a first pay cycle take weeks. Budget to live without earnings for longer than you expect to.
- Currency movement between offer and payment. A fee quoted in Australian dollars is a moving figure in your own currency. Our currency converter for students exists for this.
Working while studying
Work rights are attached to the student visa and are capped. The cap is set by the Department of Home Affairs and is expressed per fortnight rather than per week, which is a genuine difference: it allows an uneven pattern across a two week period. Because we could not read the Department’s page today, this page does not restate the current number. Our country by country guide to work hour limits records what each authority publishes and what we could not read.
Whatever the cap is when you read this, treat part time earnings as a way of managing cash flow rather than as a component of your funding plan. Every immigration system that grants work rights also expects your funds evidence to stand up without them.
What we could not source, and are not going to guess
- The financial capacity amount. Department of Home Affairs unreachable on three attempts across three sessions.
- Any tuition average or median. Not published by any Australian government body.
- Any living cost figure. Study Australia’s guide material is dated November 2023 by its own note and gives no band on the pages reachable today.
- OSHC premiums. Set by private insurers.
- The work hour cap. Same source failure as the financial capacity amount.
That is five gaps on a page about cost, which tells you something real about Australia rather than something bad about this page: the Australian model puts price setting entirely with providers and insurers, and the state publishes only what it charges you itself.
Before you accept an Australian offer
Print this and work through it against your offer letter and your Confirmation of Enrolment.
Keep reading
Compare against the countries that do publish thresholds: the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, France and Ireland. For the wider picture, the by country comparison and where tuition is low or absent. For the visa, how to get a student visa, what the requirements actually are and what governments publish about processing times. For funding, how scholarships get won.
This page explains process and published figures. It is not immigration advice and it is not financial advice. Figures are published by the authorities named, on the dates stated, and authorities change them without notice.
