Provider Default Notices and Refund Math: What Agents Should Explain to Students (2026)

When a registered provider defaults, it must enter two facts in the Secretary's computer system (PRISMS) for every student it has issued a confirmation of enrolment to: the date of the default and the reason for the default. Where it knows them, it must also enter that student's current residential address, email address, home phone number and mobile phone number. Those duties are set out in the Education Services for Overseas Students (Notice Requirements) Instrument 2022, made under subsections 46B(6) and 46F(5) of the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000. The refund amounts themselves come from a separate instrument, the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Instrument 2024, made under subsections 46D(7) and 47E(4) of the same Act. Both are as published on the Federal Register of Legislation as of September 2026; the description of the Tuition Protection Service below comes from the Australian Government Department of Education's ESOS Framework page, also as of September 2026.

The wider setting matters because it explains who owes what. The ESOS Act and related legislation provide tuition protection and support the integrity of the student visa program, and only education institutions registered under the Act and listed on the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) can enrol overseas students to study in Australia on a student visa. The National Code of Practice for Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students 2018 sets the nationally consistent standards for course delivery and commenced on 1 January 2018.

What exactly does a provider have to enter when it defaults?

Subsection 6(1) of the Notice Requirements Instrument states the duty for subsections 46B(2) and (5) of the Act, and it is tied to the enrolment record rather than to a request: the provider must enter the required information for each student to whom it has issued a confirmation of enrolment. The two items are the date of the default and the reason for the default.

A confirmation of enrolment carries the meaning given in regulation 1.03 of the Migration Regulations 1994 — a confirmation by the registered provider that the student is enrolled in a registered course provided by that provider, as required by section 19 of the ESOS Act.

The 2022 instrument repeals both of the earlier 2012 determinations on notifying provider default and on discharge of obligations, so it is the current source for these entry duties.

Which contact details must be entered, and when can they be left out?

Subsection 6(2) adds four fields, but the whole limb is conditioned on the information being "known by the provider":

current residential address;
email address;
home phone number;
mobile phone number.

This part is expressed for subsection 46B(2) of the Act. A blank field is therefore not automatically a reporting failure — the duty only bites where the provider actually held that piece of contact information. What an agent can check is whether the details the provider demonstrably held, such as the address and email on the enrolment file, were carried into the entry.

What does the provider report once the default has been dealt with?

Section 7 covers the notice of the outcome of the discharge of obligations, for subsections 46F(2) and (4) of the Act. The provider must enter one of two things:

if it has not met its obligations in accordance with section 46D — the reason it has not met them; or
if it has met those obligations — whether it did so by arranging an alternative course under subsections 46D(4) and (5), or by providing a refund under subsections 46D(6) and (7).

Which path was taken determines the follow-up entries. Where an alternative course was arranged, the provider must enter the date it met its obligations, the confirmation of enrolment code of the alternative course accepted by the student if that is known by the provider, and confirmation that it holds evidence of the student's acceptance of an offer of a place in an alternative course. Where a refund was paid instead, the provider must enter the amount of the refund and the date the refund was paid.

How is the refund amount worked out?

The Calculation of Refund Instrument 2024 repeals and replaces the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calculation of Refund) Specification 2014. It defines two inputs that drive the calculation.

Weekly tuition fee (section 6) is the tuition fee for the course worked out under subsection 6(1). If that figure is not a whole dollar amount, it is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar.

Weeks in the default period (section 7) is the number of weeks that satisfy both conditions at once: the weeks during which a registered provider or a student defaulted, and the weeks for which the provider received payment of tuition fees in respect of the student. If the resulting number is not a whole number, it is rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Section 8 then sets out the method for working out the amount of a refund of tuition fees in the event of provider default, for subsection 46D(6) of the Act. Section 9 sets out the method that applies where a provider must refund a student under subsection 47E(1) because it has not entered into an agreement with the student that meets the requirements of section 47B. The arithmetic itself is carried in the instrument's own text; the two points an agent can sanity-check without seeing the provider's internal files are that both inputs round up rather than down, and that only weeks meeting both conditions are counted.

What if the refund is because the student visa was refused?

Section 10 is the one place in the instrument with an express dollar ceiling. Where the student was refused a student visa and the refusal caused the student to fail to start the course at the location on the agreed day — the case described in subparagraph 47D(5)(b)(i) of the Act — the refund is the course fees minus the lesser of:

5% of the amount of course fees received by the provider in respect of the student before the default day; or
$500.

Subsection 10(3) fixes the base: the course fees for a course is the sum of the tuition fees received by the provider for that student plus any non-tuition fees received by the provider for that student. So the 5% is calculated on tuition and non-tuition fees received before the default day, and $500 caps it.

Subsection 10(4) addresses the other refusal outcomes, where the refusal caused the student to withdraw from the course at that location, or to fail to pay an amount they were liable to pay the provider to undertake the course, consistent with subparagraphs 47D(5)(b)(ii) and (iii) of the Act.

How is a Tuition Protection Service payment made?

The Department of Education describes the Tuition Protection Service (TPS) as a placement and refund service for international students on student visas affected by a provider closure, and for students who have withdrawn from or not started their course and are eligible for a refund the provider has not paid. It gives students the information they need to choose an alternative course through an online placement system, and it arranges a refund of pre-paid tuition fees where no course meets their needs.

The payment mechanics come from the Education Services for Overseas Students (Calls on the OSTF – requirements for payments) Instrument 2022, made under subsection 50B(5) of the Act. Where the TPS Director must pay a student under paragraph 50B(3)(c), the payment must be made electronically and must be in Australian dollars paid into a transaction account nominated by, and in the name of, the student.

Two related rules sit alongside it. A payment to a registered provider under paragraph 50B(3)(a) must be electronic, in Australian dollars, into a transaction account nominated by and in the name of the provider, held with an authorised deposit-taking institution — a term that has the meaning given in the Banking Act 1959. A payment to a person under paragraph 50B(3)(b) must be electronic and in Australian dollars, into a transaction account nominated by and in the name of that person. The practical point for an agent: a TPS refund is not paid in cash, by cheque, or into someone else's account.

What should an agent check, and what should an agent tell the student?

The reporting duties give an agent a checklist that does not depend on the provider's cooperation. The default notice should show a date and a reason for each confirmation of enrolment holder, and the four contact fields should be filled wherever the provider held that information. The outcome notice should show one of the two paths — an alternative course, with the alternative course's confirmation of enrolment code where known and the provider's confirmation that it holds evidence of acceptance, or a refund, with the amount and the date it was paid. If the outcome notice records a reason for not meeting section 46D obligations instead, that reason is itself part of the record.

On the money, three things are worth setting out to a student before they compare figures: the weekly tuition fee is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar, the weeks in the default period are rounded up to the nearest whole week and only count weeks for which the provider had actually been paid, and a visa-refusal refund that stops a student from ever starting is reduced by the lesser of 5% of course fees received before the default day or $500. This page is general reference material on how the instruments allocate reporting duties and define refund inputs; it is not personalised advice about any individual student's enrolment or refund, and where a specific amount or obligation is in question, the current text of the instruments and the Department's published guidance should govern.

Frequently Asked Questions

What two facts must a provider enter for each student when it defaults?

The Education Services for Overseas Students (Notice Requirements) Instrument 2022 requires the date of the default and the reason for the default, entered for each student to whom the provider has issued a confirmation of enrolment. The duty is expressed for subsections 46B(2) and (5) of the ESOS Act. Both items are standing requirements, not optional commentary.

Is a provider in breach if it leaves the student's mobile number blank?

Not automatically. Subsection 6(2) requires the residential address, email address, home phone number and mobile phone number only "if known by the provider". The condition attaches to each item, so a blank field is a gap only where the provider actually held that information.

How is the weekly tuition fee rounded?

Under section 6 of the Calculation of Refund Instrument 2024, if the weekly tuition fee worked out under subsection 6(1) is not a whole dollar amount, it is rounded up to the nearest whole dollar. The same instrument rounds the weeks in the default period up to the nearest whole number.

Which weeks count toward the weeks in the default period?

Section 7 counts only weeks meeting both conditions: weeks during which the registered provider or the student defaulted, and weeks for which the provider received payment of tuition fees in respect of the student. A week that fails either condition falls outside the period.

What can a provider keep when a visa refusal means the student never starts?

Section 10(2) sets the refund as the course fees minus the lesser of 5% of the course fees received before the default day or $500. Subsection 10(3) defines course fees as the tuition fees received plus any non-tuition fees received for that student. The $500 figure acts as a ceiling, so 5% governs only where it is the smaller amount.

How does the Tuition Protection Service pay a refund to a student?

The Calls on the OSTF – requirements for payments Instrument 2022 requires the payment to be made electronically and in Australian dollars. It must be paid into a transaction account nominated by, and in the name of, the student. Payments to a provider follow the same electronic, Australian-dollar rule, into an account held with an authorised deposit-taking institution.