Fee records and written agreements: what your provider must keep if a dispute arises in 2026

Under section 13 of the Education Services for Overseas Students Regulations 2019, a registered provider's record for each accepted student must include the total tuition fees paid for the course, the total non-tuition fees paid, any tuition or non-tuition fees that have become payable but remain unpaid, and copies of written agreements to which the provider and the student are parties. This reflects the text published on the Federal Register of Legislation — Education Services for Overseas Students Regulations 2019 as at September 2026. Those four items are what make a fee reconciliation possible: they let the amounts you believe you paid be checked against the amounts the provider says are outstanding.

What exactly has to be in the fee record?

Section 13(1) breaks the money side of the record into several specific fields rather than a single balance.

What must be recorded	Why it matters in a dispute
The total tuition fees paid for the student for the course (s 13(1)(a))	Establishes the ceiling of what the provider acknowledges receiving.
For each amount paid: whether it covered the full course or part of it, and the duration of the course or that part (s 13(1)(b))	Ties each payment to a study period, so a disputed instalment can be matched to the term it was meant to cover.
The total non-tuition fees paid (s 13(1)(c))	Separates course-related money from other charges.
The combined total of tuition and non-tuition fees paid (s 13(1)(d))	Gives one figure for everything received.
Tuition or non-tuition fees that have become payable and have not been paid (s 13(1)(e))	Shows what the provider itself records as owing.
Copies of written agreements between the provider and the student (s 13(1)(f))	The reference point for what was actually agreed on price, refunds and conditions.
The amount the student will be charged to access the records (s 13(1)(g))	The access charge must be a stated figure, not an amount invented later.

The per-payment breakdown is the part most useful in practice. Because each amount has to be recorded as covering either the full course or a defined part of it, with the duration of that part, a disagreement about whether an instalment covered one term or two can be tested against the record rather than against recollection.

Does the record cover money you still owe?

Yes. Section 13(1)(e) requires the record to include tuition or non-tuition fees for the student for the course that have become payable and have not been paid. That means an "outstanding balance" is not just an internal billing note: it is a field the provider is required to keep.

This distinction — payable but unpaid — is narrower than "all future fees". It points to amounts that have already fallen due, which is typically where late charges, instalment disputes and withholding of documents begin.

Which charges are treated as fees, and how are they split?

Section 7 of the regulations prescribes classes of fees for the purposes of paragraphs (b) and (c) of the definition of tuition fees in section 7 of the Act. For paragraph (b), the prescribed classes cover lectures, tutorials, tutoring sessions, training, excursions, fieldwork, laboratories or practical experience that form part of a course the provider is providing or offering to provide (whether or not they are a mandatory part), or that are intended to help the student progress in such a course — plus matters ancillary to those activities, with the regulation's own example being materials supplied for use in laboratories or training. For paragraph (c), the prescribed classes are books or equipment sold to the student, health insurance, administration, accommodation (other than accommodation the student occupies for a short time while undertaking training, excursions, fieldwork or practical experience covered by the above), and assisting the student to apply for or hold a student visa.

Section 7(1) also makes clear that these provisions apply to fees the provider receives directly or indirectly from an overseas student or intending overseas student, or from another person who pays on the student's behalf. A payment made by a parent or sponsor sits inside the same record duty.

How any individual charge is classified determines which of the two section 13 totals it lands in; the regulations require both totals to be kept separately, so a student comparing a statement against the record can see which side a charge has been placed on and question that placement.

What else sits in the same record?

Two further blocks matter when a dispute is about more than money.

If an education agent engaged, or is engaging, in recruitment activity in relation to the student, section 13(1)(h) requires the provider to keep the agent's name; the address of the agent's principal place of business; for a body corporate, the address of its registered office; the postal address if different; phone number, email and website (if any); ABN or ACN (if any); trading name or names (if any); for a body corporate, the names of its directors; and, if the agent is a registered migration agent, the agent's Migration Agents Registration Number. For each employee of the agent involved in that recruitment activity, section 13(2) requires the employee's name, email address, and Migration Agents Registration Number if they are a registered migration agent.

If undertaking a particular test is a requirement specified under paragraph 500.213(3)(a) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 — the English language proficiency requirement for Subclass 500 visas — and the student has undertaken that test, whether or not for the purposes of a Subclass 500 (Student) visa, section 13(1)(i) requires the record to include the name of the test, the day it was taken, the score received, and either or both the unique identifier for the test result or the student's unique student reference number, whichever applies.

How much can be charged to see these records?

Section 14 sets a single limit: the fee for an accepted student to access a record mentioned in section 13 must not exceed the cost incurred by the provider in providing access to that record. The cap is tied to actual cost, so it is not a fee the provider can set at whatever the market will bear.

Section 13(1)(g) complements this by requiring the record itself to state the amount the student will be charged to access the records. The charge is therefore something that should already be written down, rather than something quoted for the first time when access is requested.

How this plays out in a fee dispute

Assume a student is told they owe an additional term's fees after having already paid a lump sum at enrolment. The record required by section 13 is what settles the question: the written agreement copy shows what the payment was meant to cover; the per-payment entry shows whether that amount was recorded against the full course or a defined part, and the duration attached to it; the tuition and non-tuition totals show how the money was classified; and the payable-but-unpaid entry shows what the provider considers outstanding. If the provider's own figures do not line up with the agreement, the discrepancy is visible on the face of the record.

The same logic applies in reverse. A student who believes a charge was never agreed can point to whether it appears in the written agreement and to which total it was allocated. The regulation does not decide the outcome of a dispute; it decides what documentary trail must exist for one to be argued.

This is general information about the regulations as published, not personalised advice, and it does not assess any individual agreement or dispute. Where a specific fee or refund is in question, the outcome depends on the written agreement, the applicable version of the legislation, and the official text or a qualified professional's assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the provider have to keep records if I paid a fee but never enrolled?

Section 13 applies to each accepted student who is enrolled with a registered provider or who has paid any tuition fees for a course provided by the provider. Payment of tuition fees alone is enough to bring the record duty into play, even without enrolment.

Must the provider keep a copy of the agreement I signed?

Yes. Section 13(1)(f) requires copies of written agreements to which the provider and the student are parties. This is the document against which fee, refund and condition disputes are normally resolved.

Does the record have to show fees I have not paid yet?

It must show tuition or non-tuition fees that have become payable and have not been paid, under section 13(1)(e). Fees that have not yet fallen due are not caught by that particular field.

Can I be charged to access my own records?

A charge is permitted but capped. Section 14 states the fee must not exceed the cost incurred by the provider in providing access, and section 13(1)(g) requires the amount charged to be recorded in advance.

Is my English test result part of the record?

Where undertaking a test is required under paragraph 500.213(3)(a) of Schedule 2 to the Migration Regulations 1994 and the student has taken that test, section 13(1)(i) requires the test name, the date taken, the score, and the result identifier or student reference number. The requirement applies whether or not the test was taken for a Subclass 500 visa.

What details are kept about the agent who recruited me?

Section 13(1)(h) requires the agent's name, business and registered addresses, postal address, contact details, ABN or ACN, trading names, directors' names where applicable, and the Migration Agents Registration Number if the agent is a registered migration agent. Employees involved in the recruitment must also be listed by name and email, with a Migration Agents Registration Number where applicable.