Prepaid Australian Tuition After a Student Visa Refusal: Refund Rules for Families in 2026
Families who pay a year of Australian school or university fees up front usually recover almost all of it when the student visa is refused. Under the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Instrument 2024 — made under subsections 46D(7) and 47E(4) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 and published on the Federal Register of Legislation — a student who cannot start because the visa was refused gets back the course fees minus the lesser of 5% of the course fees the provider had already received or A$500. The deduction therefore stops at A$500 no matter how large the prepayment was.
How much should a family get back after a student visa refusal?
For the case where the refusal caused the student to fail to start the course at that location on the agreed day, subsection 10(2) of the instrument sets the refund as the amount of the course fees minus the lesser of two amounts: 5% of the course fees received by the provider in respect of the student before the default day, or $500. Nothing above that gap is part of the method.
The instrument sets the amount; the duty itself sits in the Act. Its two heads of power are subsections 46D(7) and 47E(4) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, and the amount it works out applies where the provider is required to refund under subsection 47E(1) and is not required to pay a refund because of subsection 47D(5) of the Act.
This article explains the published rule in general terms and is not advice on any individual case; where a specific refusal and a specific payment are involved, confirm the current instrument text and take advice from someone qualified to look at your documents.
Which refusal situations does the rule cover?
The Act lists three consequences of a refusal in paragraph 47D(5)(b) (subparagraphs (i) to (iii)), and the instrument attaches its own calculations to them:
- Failure to start the course at the location on the agreed day — covered by subsection 10(2).
- Withdrawal from the course at that location — covered by subsection 10(4).
- Failure to pay an amount the student was liable to pay the provider to undertake the course — covered by subsection 10(4).
The word carrying the weight is "caused". The calculation attaches to the listed consequence of a refusal, not to any departure or missed payment that merely follows one. Subsection 10(4) applies to the withdrawal and non-payment cases; its full wording sits in the official text on the Federal Register of Legislation.
What counts as course fees in the refund?
For the purposes of subsection 10(2), course fees are wider than tuition. Subsection 10(3) says the course fees for a course are the sum of:
- the tuition fees received by the provider in respect of the student; and
- the non-tuition fees (if any) received by the provider in respect of the student.
Two conditions decide most disputes: the money must have been received by the provider, and it must relate to that student. Amounts a family paid to some other party that never reached the provider fall outside this base. The instrument does not set out categories under the non-tuition heading, so the split is usually visible in the fee schedule and the written agreement.
Why does the cap matter most for large prepayments?
Because the rule always takes the smaller of the two figures, the percentage only bites on modest sums. Once 5% of the amount received passes A$500, the deduction stops moving.
Assume a family paid A$60,000 in total before the default day — A$48,000 in tuition and A$12,000 in other charges the provider received for that student. Five percent of A$60,000 is A$3,000. The lesser rule gives a A$500 deduction and a A$59,500 refund.
The same formula applied to other amounts, purely as illustrations of the arithmetic:
| Course fees received before the default day | 5% of that amount | Deduction applied | Refund |
|---|---|---|---|
| A$6,000 | A$300 | A$300 | A$5,700 |
| A$20,000 | A$1,000 | A$500 | A$19,500 |
| A$60,000 | A$3,000 | A$500 | A$59,500 |
| A$120,000 | A$6,000 | A$500 | A$119,500 |
Those rows illustrate the method only. They are not figures taken from any decision, provider or official publication.
To estimate a number before any paperwork, work in this order. Add every amount the provider received for the student. Take 5% of that total. Compare it with A$500. Subtract the smaller figure from the total course fees.
Do the 2014 refund rules still apply in 2026?
No. Schedule 1 of the 2024 instrument repeals the whole of the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Specification 2014. The instrument states that it commences the day after it is registered, and its registration and commencement details appear on its entry in the Federal Register of Legislation.
Older summaries quoting the 2014 approach should be checked against the current 2024 text. Since the rule is a legislative instrument, the version in force is the one published by the register, and any later amendment would appear there.
What this instrument settles, and what it does not
It settles the amount. Theme sections of the instrument deal with distinct triggers: provider default under section 8, failure to enter into a compliant agreement meeting section 47B of the Act under section 9, and student visa refusal under section 10.
It does not say whether a refund is owed in the first place. That comes from the Act, through subsections 47E(1) and 47D(5).
It does not disturb the visa decision. A refusal can be final while the refund calculation still applies, because the two run on separate tracks.
It does not capture money that never reached the provider, or any amount outside what the provider received in respect of that student before the default day.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a student visa refusal mean we get every dollar back?
Nearly every dollar, but not automatically all of it. Where the refusal caused the student to miss the start of the course, the 2024 refund instrument lets the provider retain the lesser of 5% of the course fees received before the default day and A$500. A larger retention would sit outside the method the instrument sets.
Are non-tuition charges included in the refund base?
Yes, if the provider received them for that student. For the purposes of subsection 10(2), subsection 10(3) adds non-tuition fees received in respect of the student to tuition fees to produce the course fees. Amounts paid directly to a third party that never reached the provider stay outside this base.
What changes if the student enrolled and then withdrew after the refusal?
That is the second consequence listed in paragraph 47D(5)(b) (subparagraph (ii)): withdrawal from the course at that location caused by the refusal. Subsection 10(4) of the instrument covers it rather than subsection 10(2), so the exact figure should be read from the official text.
What if we stopped paying the remaining balance after the refusal?
Failure to pay an amount the student was liable to pay is the third listed consequence, alongside non-start and withdrawal. Subsection 10(4) deals with it, and the requirement is still that the refusal caused the failure to pay.
Does the refund depend on who was at fault for the refusal?
The condition written into the instrument is causation of the consequence, not fault in the visa assessment. The refusal must have caused the failure to start, the withdrawal or the failure to pay for the relevant calculation to be triggered.
Are the old 2014 refund calculations still relevant?
No. Schedule 1 repeals the whole of the Calculation of Refund Specification 2014. The governing method now sits in the 2024 instrument, authorised by subsections 46D(7) and 47E(4) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000.
Is this article advice about our specific case?
It is general information about how the published rule reads. Confirm the instrument version currently in force and, where a large prepayment is tied to a particular refusal, ask a qualified professional to apply it to your documents.