Tuition Refunds After a Student Visa Refusal in 2026: What the Refund Instrument Requires
How the 2024 refund instrument caps what a provider can deduct from prepaid course fees after a student visa refusal, and how to check the figure.
If your student visa was refused and that refusal stopped you from starting your course on the agreed day, the amount of any refund is worked out by a statutory calculation rather than by negotiation, and under subsection 10(1) that calculation applies only where a registered provider is required to provide a refund under subsection 47E(1) of the ESOS Act and is not required to pay a refund because of subsection 47D(5) of the Act. Under subsection 10(2) of the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Instrument 2024 (F2024L01231), the refund is the course fees minus the lesser of 5% of the course fees the provider received before the default day, or $500. The instrument is made under subsections 46D(7) and 47E(4) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (the ESOS Act), and this article works from its text as published on the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), as at September 2026.
What does the 2024 instrument require after a student visa refusal?
The instrument sets out how to work out an amount; it does not by itself decide whether a student is owed anything. Section 10 is headed "Method for working out amount of refund in event of student visa refusal". Subsection 10(1) provides that, for the purposes of subsection 47E(2) of the ESOS Act, if a registered provider is required to provide a refund to a student under subsection 47E(1) of the Act and the provider is not required to pay a refund to the student because of subsection 47D(5) of the Act, the amount of the refund is calculated as set out in subsections 10(2) and 10(4), and those two subsections are tied to subparagraphs 47D(5)(b)(i), (ii) and (iii) of the ESOS Act.
Where the refusal caused the student to fail to start the course at the location on the agreed day — the case covered by subparagraph 47D(5)(b)(i) — subsection 10(2) sets the refund as the amount of the course fees, minus the lesser of:
- 5% of the amount of course fees the provider received for the student before the default day; or
- $500.
Two features of that wording matter in a dispute. The deduction is the lesser of the two figures, so it can never exceed $500, and it sits below $500 whenever 5% of the fees received comes to less. It is also the only subtraction the subsection contemplates, taken from a base defined by subsection 10(3).
What counts as "course fees"?
Subsection 10(3) answers this directly: the course fees for a course is the sum of the tuition fees the provider received for the student, plus the non-tuition fees (if any) the provider received for the student. The base is not "tuition only". A calculation that starts from the tuition line and leaves out non-tuition fees already collected does not match that definition.
The base is also built from money the provider actually received. Amounts invoiced but never paid are not part of the sum in subsection 10(3), and money the provider never held cannot appear as a deduction from it.
Which situation are you actually in?
"Visa refused" is one event with three possible consequences, and the instrument treats them separately.
| What the refusal caused | Provision it is tied to | Where the calculation sits |
|---|---|---|
| The student failed to start the course at the location on the agreed day | Subparagraph 47D(5)(b)(i) of the ESOS Act | Subsection 10(2) — course fees minus the lesser of 5% or $500 |
| The student withdrew from the course at that location | Subparagraph 47D(5)(b)(ii) of the ESOS Act | Subsection 10(4) |
| The student failed to pay an amount they were liable to pay the provider to undertake the course | Subparagraph 47D(5)(b)(iii) of the ESOS Act | Subsection 10(4) |
This article sets out subsection 10(2) because that is the limb that applies when a refusal prevents a student from starting. Subsection 10(4) covers the withdrawal and non-payment cases, and its calculation is set out in the instrument itself — read subsection 10(4) on the Federal Register of Legislation for the current wording.
The common thread across all three is causation. Each limb turns on the refusal having caused the outcome, not merely on the refusal having happened. A student who did not start for reasons unrelated to the visa decision is not, on the face of subsection 10(2), in the situation it describes.
How do you check whether the deduction is too large?
Work through the figures in order:
- Add every amount the provider received for the student: tuition fees plus non-tuition fees.
- Work out 5% of the course fees received before the default day.
- Put that figure next to $500.
- Take the lower of the two. That is the deduction the subsection allows.
- Subtract it from the course fees.
Two hypothetical illustrations, with figures used only to show the arithmetic:
| Course fees received | 5% of that amount | Lesser of 5% or $500 | Refund |
|---|---|---|---|
| $20,000 (hypothetical) | $1,000 | $500 | $19,500 |
| $8,000 (hypothetical) | $400 | $400 | $7,600 |
The checks that catch most disputes follow from that table:
- A deduction larger than $500, in the fail-to-start case, is larger than either figure in subsection 10(2) can produce.
- A flat $500 deduction, where 5% of the fees received is less than $500, is higher than the lesser figure.
- A base that leaves out non-tuition fees received is narrower than subsection 10(3) requires.
- Any further amount deducted on top of the subsection 10(2) figure is not part of the calculation that subsection sets out.
- A quotation that refers to the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Specification 2014 points to a repealed instrument. Schedule 1 to the 2024 instrument repeals that Specification in whole, and the 2024 instrument commenced the day after it was registered.
What can you argue, and what should you not expect the instrument to do?
Three points carry most of the argument. Name the limb: the subsection 10(2) calculation applies where the refusal caused the failure to start at that location on the agreed day. Hold the base to subsection 10(3): tuition plus non-tuition fees received. Hold the deduction to the lesser of 5% or $500, and identify which of those two figures was used.
The instrument does not settle the rest of the dispute. In the parts dealing with visa refusal it does not set a deadline for paying a refund, and it does not turn on why the visa was refused: subsection 10(2) asks whether the refusal caused the student to fail to start, not which ground the decision-maker relied on. Money the provider never received falls outside the sum in subsection 10(3) altogether. This article is general information about how the statutory calculation works, not personalised advice about your enrolment or your visa, and where a large sum is at stake the figures should be checked against the official text and, if needed, by someone qualified to look at your own documents.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the $500 figure cap my refund, or the provider's deduction?
It limits the deduction. Subsection 10(2) sets the refund as the course fees minus the lesser of 5% of the fees received before the default day or $500, so $500 is the most that can come off the base, not the most you can be paid.
Do non-tuition fees count when working out the refund?
Yes. Subsection 10(3) defines course fees as the tuition fees received plus the non-tuition fees, if any, received by the provider for the student. A calculation that counts only the tuition line does not match that definition.
Does it matter why my student visa was refused?
On the wording of subsection 10(2), what matters is that the refusal caused you to fail to start the course at that location on the agreed day. The subsection does not split the calculation by refusal ground.
I had already started the course and withdrew after the refusal — does the same formula apply?
That is a different limb. Subsection 10(4) deals with the case where the refusal caused the student to withdraw from the course at that location, and the calculation is set out in the instrument itself; read subsection 10(4) on the Federal Register of Legislation for the current wording.
Can the provider keep more than $500?
Not under subsection 10(2). The deduction is the lesser of 5% of the course fees received before the default day and $500, so it cannot exceed $500 — and it falls below $500 whenever 5% of those fees comes to less.
Which instrument applies to my refund — the 2024 one or the 2014 Specification?
The 2024 instrument repeals the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Specification 2014 in whole, under Schedule 1, and commenced the day after it was registered.
Does the instrument say how quickly the refund must be paid?
The parts of the instrument dealing with visa refusal set out how to calculate the amount; they do not state a payment deadline. Timing depends on any agreement governing the enrolment and on the current registered text of the legislation.
My provider says its own refund policy applies — what then?
The instrument sets out the statutory calculation method; it does not set out the terms of any agreement you signed. Where a written agreement governs the enrolment, what can be claimed depends on that agreement and on the Act, and the figures above are the statutory calculation rather than a statement about your agreement.