Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP)
A university place where the government subsidises part of the tuition cost, with the student paying a reduced "student contribution".
A Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) is a university place where the Australian Government pays part of your tuition fees (the Commonwealth contribution) and you pay the remainder (the student contribution). The student contribution varies by field of study and is set by the government — for 2025, it ranges from about $4,124 for courses in national priority areas (nursing, teaching, STEM) to about $16,952 for courses like law, commerce, and humanities.
If you have a CSP, you can either pay your student contribution upfront (and receive a 10% discount on the amount) or defer it through a HECS-HELP loan, which is repaid through the tax system once your income exceeds the repayment threshold. Most domestic undergraduate students in Australian universities hold a CSP — full-fee places are relatively uncommon for domestic undergraduates.
The student contribution amounts were significantly restructured under the Job-ready Graduates reforms from 2021, which lowered fees for fields aligned with government workforce priorities (e.g., nursing, teaching, IT, agriculture) and increased fees for fields with less perceived workforce demand (e.g., humanities, law, commerce). This was controversial, as the fee changes were seen as a mechanism to steer student choices rather than reflecting actual course delivery costs.