A Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) is a place at a university or higher education provider where the government pays part of your tuition fees. This part is a subsidy, not a loan, and you don't have to pay it back to the government. The subsidy does not cover the entire cost of your study. Students must pay the rest of the cost, which is called the 'student contribution amount'.

Currently all domestic undergraduate places at UWA are offered as CSPs (subject to students meeting ongoing eligibility criteria). UWA offers a limited number of postgraduate Commonwealth Supported Places in certain courses based on government eligibility criteria requirements; see the UWA Fee Calculator for a list of courses.

If you are enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place, you:

• Are known as a Commonwealth Supported student
• Have been issued with a Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN) (if you commenced studies between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2020), and
• May be eligible to defer all or part of your student contributions through the loan scheme HECS-HELP. If you are eligible, you must fill out a HECS-HELP form online via studentConnect by the census date of the unit to defer your student contribution amount.

A student contribution payment cannot be accepted after the census date for a unit; however, eligible students who have filled out their HECS-HELP form and provided their Tax File Number (TFN) by the census date will normally have their debt automatically deferred via the HECS-HELP loan scheme. If you complete the HECS-HELP form after the census date, you will not be able to defer payments until the following semester.