- Census date: The date on which a student's enrolment is taken to be finalised. HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP debts are incurred on census dates. Students must make their up-front payments and submit their request/s for Commonwealth assistance by the census date.
- CHESSN: This is your unique Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number that can be used to access your Commonwealth assistance information via myUniAssist.
- Commonwealth Assistance Notice: Also referred to as your CAN. The CAN Contains information about a student's enrolment and use of Commonwealth assistance each study period.
- Commonwealth assisted student: A student who is receiving a tuition subsidy, a HELP loan or a Commonwealth Learning Scholarship .
- Commonwealth contributions: Contributions that the Government makes towards the cost of a Commonwealth supported student's education through the Commonwealth Grant Scheme, resulting in a tuition subsidy.
- Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS): The scheme through which Commonwealth contributions are made.
- Commonwealth Learning Scholarships (CLS): Scholarships to assist students from low socio-economic backgrounds, who are Australian citizens or holders of permanent humanitarian visas, with costs associated with higher education.
- Commonwealth supported place: A higher education place for which the Commonwealth contributes towards the cost of the student's education; students pay a subsidised tuition called the 'student contribution charge'.
- Commonwealth supported student: A student who occupies a Commonwealth supported place.
- Credit: Funds that have been paid into your student account and are not allocated to any charges.
- Debit: The amount you currently owe.
- Domestic student: Australian citizen, New Zealand citizen or holder of an Australian permanent visa. Domestic students may be offered a place as either a Commonwealth supported student or a fee paying student.
- Domestic Fee Paying student: A domestic student who is not Commonwealth supported. Eligible Domestic Fee Paying students may be eligible for FEE-HELP.
- EFTSL: Equivalent full-time study load. A measure of the study load, for a year, of a student undertaking a program on a full-time basis.
- FEE-HELP: A loan scheme to assist eligible domestic fee paying students to pay their tuition fees. Any amount used under this scheme is recorded with the Australian taxation office as a HELP debt.
- FEE-HELP balance: The amount of FEE-HELP a student can use to offset their fee paying tuition.
- HECS-HELP: A loan scheme that records a Commonwealth supported student's student contribution charges against their Tax File Number as a HELP debt that can be repaid once the 'repayment threshold' income is met.
- Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS): An electronic information system that provides students and higher education providers with a range of relevant information, such as the availability and usage of Commonwealth assistance by students and information on programme management reporting.
- Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP): A loan programme to help eligible students pay student contributions (HECS-HELP), tuition fees (FEE-HELP), Student Services & Amenities Fee (SA-HELP) and overseas study expenses (OS-HELP).
- Humanitarian visa: See Permanent humanitarian visa holder
- International Fee Paying student: Any student who is not a domestic student.
- Loan fee: A fee that applies to all undergraduate FEE-HELP loans.
- National Priority areas: Areas of study for which the Commonwealth offers additional assistance, either through offering additional places, increasing Commonwealth contributions or reducing the maximum student contribution amounts for a place.
- OS-HELP: A cash loan available to eligible students who undertake some of their program overseas.
- OS-HELP maximum: The maximum loan amount (indexed each year) that a student can receive in a given six month loan period.
- Permanent humanitarian visa holder: A student who holds a permanent visa of a humanitarian subclass as determined by the Australian Government Office for the Department of Home Affairs.
A list of permanent humanitarian visa subclasses can be found on the Department of Home Affairs website here: Department of Home Affairs Visa Subclass Listing - Student contribution band: One of three bands of disciplinary areas into which a given unit of study will fall. Student contribution bands are used to determine the maximum student contributions for a place.
- Student contribution charges: The subsidised tuition that Commonwealth supported students are charged toward the cost of their education.