Minimum completion rate requirements

In 2022, the Australian Government introduced new requirements for domestic students receiving government funding. Learn about the requirements, what the change means, how it will impact students and what we can do to support them.

Background

To protect students who are not making sufficient progress from incurring high student fee debt, the government has introduced a minimum 50 per cent completion rate requirement (also known as low completion rate).

This impacts all domestic students commencing in a course at diploma level and above from 2022 onwards.

What is the minimum completion rate?

The minimum completion rate is a requirement for all Commonwealth supported students and students accessing FEE-HELP to successfully pass at least 50 per cent of their units. For students in a diploma course, these requirements are enforced after they have attempted four units. For students in a bachelor or above course, these requirements are enforced after they have attempted eight units.

Impact on students

Students are permitted to continue in their course of study even if they are not meeting the minimum completion rate, however, they will not be able to access a HELP loan and/or the amount they are charged will increase.

Commonwealth supported students who do not successfully pass 50 per cent after attempting either four (diploma) or eight (bachelor and above) units will be changed to a full fee-paying place. They will then need to pay the full fee amount upfront to ACU and are not eligible for any HELP loan.

Students accessing FEE-HELP who do not successfully pass 50 per cent after attempting eight units (bachelor and above), will not be able to access FEE-HELP and must pay for their full fee amount upfront. The amount these students are charged does not change though.

Impact on ACU

While the minimum completion rate is similar to academic progress, there are fundamental differences. Students will need a higher level of administrative and academic guidance to navigate through their course and pathways, which will involve many different areas of ACU. Beyond this, there may also be an impact on retention and government funding.

Webinar

The Academic Progress and Fees team encourage all staff across ACU to attend a webinar to learn more about this change and determine how this impacts you.

The webinar will be recorded and distributed to all registered attendees. If you’re unable to attend at this time, please still register so that the recording can be sent to you.

Title: Minimum completion rate requirements – Job-ready Graduates Package
Date: Tuesday 27 June 
Time: 10am

Register online here

If you have any questions, please contact Mitchell.Fairclough@acu.edu.au.