Low Completion Rate


In October 2023 the Australian Government passed legislation to remove the Low Completion Rate requirement from 1 January 2024.

The Higher Education Support Act 2003 has been amended to remove the requirement that students must pass 50% of their units they study to remain eligible for Commonwealth assistance (studying in a CSP or access to a HELP loans). Students enrolled in units of study with census dates on or after 1 January 2024 will not need to meet the pass rate requirements. 


The Australian Government's Job-ready Graduates Package introduced additional eligibility requirements for Commonwealth assistance from 1 January 2022. Commonwealth assistance is the subsidy students enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place receive and the HELP loan scheme which eligible students can access to assist in paying their fees.

How does it affect you?

The completion rate requirement applies to students who start a course from 1 January 2022 and receive Commonwealth assistance through a Commonwealth supported place or HELP loan. It also applies to students who transfer to a new course from 1 January 2022.

If you do not successfully complete more than 50% of your attempted units, you will not be eligible to remain in your Commonwealth supported place or use a HELP loan (HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP and SA-HELP). The Australian Government refers to this as a Low Completion Rate.

The completion rate requirement is a separate process to academic progression.

What is a Low Completion Rate?

A Low Completion Rate (LCR) is when you have a fail rate of more than 50% of the units you have attempted in your course after you have attempted either:

  • 8 or more units in a bachelor level or higher course
  • 4 or more units in a higher education course lower than a bachelor course (includes FAST enabling course, higher education diploma, associate degree & undergraduate certificate).

If your LCR is more than 50%, and you have attempted the assessable number of units for your level of study, your Commonwealth assistance will be withdrawn.

How is a Low Completion Rate calculated?

Your LCR is calculated using the total number of attempted units and the total number of not successfully completed units.

A unit attempt is any unit you are enrolled in after the census date or a credit transfer applied to your course which was studied from 2022 onwards. A unit attempt can have any credit point or EFTSL value and must count towards your course requirements.

Any unit you were enrolled in at census date and have not successfully completed will count. This includes:

  • Withdrawn (W) or Late Withdrawal (LW) grades
  • Fail (F), MF (Marginal fail), XF (Non-assessed fail) or UN (Ungraded fail) grades

Withdrawing from a unit after the census date is viewed as not successfully completing in the context of your LCR.

Any unit you are still enrolled in or which does not have a finalised grade will not count towards your LCR until a finalised grade is received.

Your course LCR appears under the 'View my Grades' section in my Student Centre. It is updated daily and will be used prior to each census date to confirm your Commonwealth assistance eligibility for the semester.

When will the University let me know?

As your enrolment may fall into the LCR criteria at any time, we will undertake regular checks on your enrolment throughout the semester.

Students with a low completion rate will be notified after semester results are released and be given advice about their options. If your low completion rate goes over 50%, the University will contact you advising that your CSP and/or HELP loan have been withdrawn and giving you details on the next steps. These actions will come into effect from the next census date. If you are actively studying in a current semester and the census date has passed, you will be able to continue in your units with your existing Commonwealth assistance arrangements for the remainder of that semester.

What can I do if I have a Low Completion Rate?

If you have a LCR over 50% and have attempted the assessable number of units your options are:

  • Continue your current course in a Full Fee-paying Place and pay fees upfront
    • You should be aware you will be paying domestic full fee tuition and cannot use HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP to defer payment.
    • If you choose this option and your LCR reduces to 50% or lower, you will again be eligible for Commonwealth assistance in future semesters.
  • Transfer to a new course
    • If you change to a different course, your previous LCR will not carry over and you will be able to access Commonwealth assistance for your new course.
    • When applying to transfer to another course, your application will be assessed on whether you are academically suited.
  • If applicable, submit a LCR Special Circumstances Application using the online form
    • If a special circumstance impacted your ability to pass one or more units leading you to withdraw after census date or fail you can apply for the units to not be counted towards your LCR.
    • If your application is approved, those not successfully completed units would be excluded when calculating your LCR.
  • Withdraw from your course
    • If you do not wish to continue as Full Fee-Paying, or special circumstances are not applicable you will need to withdraw from your course.
    • If you are notified that your Commonwealth assistance has been withdrawn and you do not respond to the University you will be administratively withdrawn from your course.

We've created the calculator below to help you plan the number of units you could enrol in for a semester and to see how their completion would impact your LCR.

Low Completion Rate % planning calculator

Fill in the fields below to calculate your low completion rate.

LCR % formula is: Total number of not successfully completed units*  ÷ Total number of attempted units x 100

* does not include any not successfully completed units which are not counted due to approved special circumstances.

GradeCountCompletion
HD, D, C, P, S or TCAttemptedSuccessfully completed
MF, F, XF, UN, W or LWAttemptedNot successfully completed
AD, TD or ZNNot attempted Neither (final grade pending)

You can find further grade information including descriptions here.

What do you need to do about your completion rate?

It’s important to monitor your LCR throughout your course to ensure it doesn't become too high. We encourage you to seek additional advice from us if your LCR has risen, or is at risk of rising, above 50%. We can help support and guide you through your options.

Course LCR
What this means and what you need to do next
above 50%
You will no longer receive government funding for your course if you've completed the assessable number of units. Please make an Enrolment & Progression Advice appointment as soon as possible so that we can talk you through your options.
50%You will continue receiving government funding at the moment. Please make an Enrolment & Progression Advice appointment so that we can discuss strategies to help prevent your LCR from rising above 50%. 
40 - 50%You will continue receiving commonwealth assistance at the moment but your completion rate is close to the cut-off point. We encourage you to make an Enrolment & Progression Advice appointment so that we can discuss strategies to help prevent your LCR from rising above 50%. 
25 - 40%You will continue receiving commonwealth assistance at the moment but please continue monitoring your completion rate, make your unit selections carefully and ensure you finalise your semester enrolment before each census date. 
0 - 25%Keep up the good work and continue monitoring your completion rate. Ensure you finalise your semester enrolment before each census date.

If you started your course during or after 2022 (including deferring an earlier offer to start in 2022) you must meet the completion rate required to maintain your CSP and/or HELP loan.

If you fail or withdraw from a unit after the census date for more than 50% of the units you have attempted, you will be considered as having a low completion rate.

If your Low Completion Rate rises above 50% and you have attempted the assessable number of units, your Commonwealth assistance (CSP funding/HELP loan) will be withdrawn for your current course.

This applies after you have attempted 8 or more units in a bachelor level or higher level course, or 4 or more units in a higher education course lower than a bachelor level (sub-bachelor).

Your Low Completion Rate is calculated from the beginning of your course. If it used to determine your Commonwealth assistance eligibility after you have attempted and received final grades for:

  • 8 or more units in a bachelor level or higher course
  • 4 or more units in a higher education course lower than a bachelor course (includes FAST enabling course, higher education diploma, associate degree & undergraduate certificate).

Your course LCR is updated daily and appears under the 'View my Grades' section in my Student Centre. Your LCR % on census date will determine your Commonwealth assistance eligibility for the semester.

It is important to check your completion rate after results are released, or after a deferred grade is finalised so that you know your LCR % and eligibility status.

Census Date is the last day you can withdraw from a unit without it affecting your completion rate, SLE or incurring fees for the unit. Every unit you are enrolled in on the Census Date will count as attempted for the purpose of calculating your Low Completion Rate and Student Learning Entitlement.

Your LCR % on Census Date will determine your Commonwealth assistance eligibility for the semester.

If you believe that there are special circumstances that have impacted your units being classified as incomplete, for example, if your circumstances prevented you from withdrawing before the census date or contributed to incomplete grades, you may apply for a review.

If successful, these incomplete units would be excluded when calculating your completion rate and would count as neither complete nor incomplete.

Submit a Special Circumstances Application and share as many details and documents as relevant to demonstrate any impacts on your study.

This may include:

  • GP certificate/s
  • Financial hardship
  • Mental health or disability information
  • Personal circumstances or carers responsibilities
  • Statutory Declaration

When completing your application, you will be asked for the unit code and name of each unit you would like reviewed.

If you have failed a unit and you don’t agree with the grade, you can appeal, but you must do so within certain time limits.

From 1 January 2022, you are entitled to study in a CSP for seven years (7 EFTSL) or part-time equivalent with any higher education provider. If you use up your entitlement, you will usually need to transfer to a full-fee paying place. All units that count as Attempted for the purpose of your completion rate in the table above also count towards your total Student Learning Entitlement. There are some situations where you can access additional SLE. Find out more about how the SLE works.

You can get your Commonwealth Assistance back once your completion rate is 50% or lower. In the meantime, you will need to pay for future units upfront.

Your completion rate will improve the more units you pass! If you’re not on track to meet the completion rate or it’s already close to 50%, there are a number of strategies to consider such as:

Reducing your study load to focus your efforts on a smaller number of units can be a good option as every unit you pass increases your completion rate.

Reducing your study load can be beneficial academically and personally if you have found the demands of full-time study a challenge. This allows you to focus your efforts on a smaller number of units and gives you time for things outside of studies, such as work, family responsibilities and personal activities. Increasing your completion rate by focusing on fewer units at a time improves your chances of keeping Commonwealth Support for your studies. It may also delay the assessment of your CSP/HELP eligibility, giving you extra time until you have attempted eight units(or four for diploma, FAST and enabling courses).

You can use our calculator above to check how attempting different study loads will impact your completion rate.

If you also receive Centrelink benefits it’s important to understand how changing from full-time to part-time study impacts your benefits.

Read more about reducing your study load.

During the semester, we recommend you look at the suggestions above for improving your study skills.

If your studies are being affected by a situation beyond your control, you can also apply for special consideration during the semester. If you are eligible, you may be granted an extension for an assessment, a change to your attendance requirements or a deferred examination.

Census Date is the last day you can change the units you’ve enrolled in without it affecting your completion rate, SLE or incurring fees. You can find the Census Date for your semester here.

If you withdraw from a unit after Census Date, you will incur fees for the unit and you will receive either a Withdrawal (W) or Late Withdrawal (LW) grade. A W or LW grade will count as an attempted and incomplete unit and lower your completion rate.

If you repeat a failed unit, each time you take the unit is counted as another attempt.

No, your completion rate calculation applies only to your current course and does not transfer with you to other courses or applications for the purposes of CSP/HELP eligibility. Instead, each application or transfer will be assessed on the entry requirements of the course and academic suitability.

All attempted units, regardless of your completion rate, will count towards your Student Learning Entitlement.

You don’t need to do anything ‘extra’ to prove you are a genuine student – just engage in your studies. We will take the following into account when assessing whether you are a genuine student:

  • How often you log into our Learning Management System (Moodle)
  • How actively you participate in classes
  • Whether you complete your assignments
  • Whether the contact information you have given us is correct

What if you’re an international student or not using FEE-HELP?

Yes, the low completion rate can still impact you. If you’re an international student in the process of gaining Australian residency, you will become a domestic student once residency is approved. The University will then assess whether a CSP is available and if your completion rate would permit you holding one.

Alternatively, if you are a domestic student enrolled in a domestic full fee-paying place and usually pay your fees upfront, you won’t be able to access FEE-HELP for future semesters if you have a low completion rate.