If I did less than $12,000 worth of provider-based study in my first year of study, can I carry the rest over to another year?

It depends on how much study you’ve done so far. Fees Free covers your first full-time year of provider-based study – or what is equivalent to a full-time year – up to $12,000.

So, if you haven’t used either 1 EFTS (120 credits) or $12,000 in your first calendar year of study, you may have some Fees Free entitlement left.

You may be able to carry forward your remaining Fees Free entitlement (in EFTS and dollars) to use in future years. Your Fees Free entitlement will stop when you use up your remaining EFTS or remaining dollars – whichever you use up first.

You must have used less than 1 EFTS (120 credits) and less than $12,000 of Fees Free entitlement to be able to carry forward to another year.

If you’ll reach one of these caps before finishing your studies, you may wish to apply for a student loan to cover the rest. For more information about Student Loans visit the StudyLink website.

Note that these settings apply to the current first-year policy, and may change in future years. Final-year Fees Free policy settings have not yet been confirmed.

From 2025, the first-year Fees Free policy is operating under transition settings. In 2025, you can continue to use your remaining entitlement if you used Fees Free in 2024 and are continuing in the same qualification.

However, if you didn’t use Fees Free in 2024, or you used it but you’re not continuing in the same qualification in 2025, you will not be able to use Fees Free for future studies.

Find out more about the end of the first-year Fees Free policy.