From 1 January 2024, you won’t need to pass 50 per cent of your units to keep your Commonwealth supported place, and your HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP loan.

This change in legislation means there's no longer a unit pass rate requirement linked to your ongoing eligibility for government support. The University’s Student Academic Progress policy still applies and we encourage you to make use of our support services to enable you to successfully complete your course on time.

If you have any academic progress conditions in place, these still apply. It’s important that you follow any instructions you’ve received to have the best chance of keeping your studies on track.

Students who started a new course on or after 1 January 2022, needed to pass at least 50 per cent of the units they attempted. If a pass rate was less than 50 per cent, that student would lose access to a Commonwealth supported place (CSP) and/or assistance through a HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP loan.

The Federal Government has since removed the unit pass rate rule, which no longer applies to teaching periods with a census date after 1 January, 2024.

The pass rate applied once eight units were completed regardless of credit point value (including credited units and any units withdrawn after the census or withdrawn late date). For courses below bachelor level, the pass rate applied after four units.

The unit pass rate requirement was a separate calculation from the WAM or GPA, and specific to students who receive Commonwealth assistance (CSP or HELP loan). It wasn’t published on any academic statements.

A student's pass rate at census date was used to assess their fee status eligibility.

Monash had to report to the ATO, at every census date, which students had incurred a debt through a HELP loan with the government. We cannot change this reported information unless Monash has made an error.

How the pass rate was calculated

The pass rate was calculated at the end of each teaching period by dividing the number of units passed by the total number of units a student was enrolled in for their course. This included units that received credit and any units withdrawn after the census or withdrawn late date.

For example: If you have completed eight units in your course and passed three units, your unit pass rate is 38 per cent.

Pass rate not met

For teaching periods with a census date on or before 31 December 2023, students weren’t  able to continue studying in a Commonwealth supported place (CSP), or accessing a HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP loan if they didn’t meet the 50 per cent unit pass rate requirement.

Units with a census date before 1 January 2024

The 50 per cent unit pass rate rule also applied to units taught in the following teaching periods:

• Summer semester A (census date: 5 December)
• November intake – Australia (census date: 7 December)

If a student's pass rate reached 50 per cent (or above) before the census date of those teaching periods, they may have qualified for a CSP and/or HELP loan. If their pass rate didn’t t reach at least 50 per cent and they wanted to avoid the upfront, full-fee payment, they needed to:

• withdraw from the units before the census date, or
• take intermission before the census date.

If they decided to stay enrolled in the units, they were transferred to an upfront, full-fee- paying place in their course.

Special circumstances

Students were able to remove units from the calculation of their pass rate if they experienced special circumstances that prevented them from successfully completing them. To do this, they needed to submit a special circumstances application within 10 working days after their unit results were released for that teaching period.

If their special circumstances application was not submitted (with correct documents) and approved before the census date of their next teaching period, they were transferred to a full fee place, and paid full fee upfront for that teaching period (without a HECS HELP or FEE HELP loan).

If a student didn’t supply all the required information in the application, or didn't allow enough time for their application to be assessed and reviewed, they could have missed the deadline and be transferred to a full fee place.

If a student was accessing FEE-HELP, as well as the above requirements, they needed to advise us if a successful special circumstances application should result in their unit pass rate being recalculated.

For requirements, including what evidence to provide and how to apply, see special circumstances.

Course transfer

If a student was eligible to transfer into a new course, their pass rate reset and they were then eligible to apply for a CSP and/or HELP loan. All the details are on our course and campus transfers page.

If a student received credit for previous studies as part of a course transfer, the credit was included in the pass rate calculation (if the credit was granted for a unit completed after 1 Jan 2022 in a course that was started after 1 Jan 2022).

Work experience-based credit that recognises a student's prior experience in a relevant industry, did not count towards the unit pass rate because it was not taken as a unit of study.

Withdrawing from units

If a student withdrew from a unit on or before census date, their unit pass rate calculation wasn’t impacted. If they withdrew after census date, they were still liable for the fees for the units they withdrew late from, and those units impacted their unit pass rate.