Current ASQA fees and charges

Fees and charges from July 2022

From 1 July 2022, ASQA will implement the following Australian Government decisions:

transition of ASQA from a partial to a full cost recovery agency including the reintroduction of fees and charges, as announced by the Australian Government Budget 2018–19
end of most fee relief measures created to lift financial pressure on providers impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic
continuation of fee relief measures for ELICOS-only providers until 31 December 2022.

Learn about the fees and charges effective from 1 July 2022. Read more.

ASQA fees and charges are determined by legislative instruments

The Australian Skills Quality Authority’s (ASQA’s) fees and charges are determined by way of legislative instrument. ASQA’s current fees and charges are determined by the:

In the sections below, you can find detailed information about fees and charges specific to:

Initial Registration Fees

To become an NVR or ESOS registered provider an individual or organisation must lodge an application. To learn more about becoming an NVR or ESOS registered provider read about the application process on our website.

Learn about how to become an RTO. Learn about how to become an ESOS provider.

NVR applications

To lodge an application for RTO registration, there are two fees that are payable:

Initial registration application fee or Lodgement fee	A lodgement fee invoice is generated and available following submission of your application. Processing of the application is subject to payment of the invoice.	$600
Initial registration assessment fee	You will receive an assessment fee invoice when we have confirmed your application is complete. This needs to be paid before your application is assessed.	$8,000

ESOS applications

To lodge an application to become an ESOS provider, there are two fees that are payable:

Initial registration application fee	A lodgement fee invoice is generated and available following submission of your application. Processing of the application is subject to payment of the invoice.	$600
Initial registration assessment fee	You will receive an assessment fee invoice when we have confirmed your application is complete. This needs to be paid before your application is assessed.	$8,000

Charges following approval

If you apply for NVR and/or ESOS registration and your application is approved, you also need to pay an Annual Registration Charge.

Case study/scenario

An initial application for VET registration has been received. The new provider, ‘New RTO’, has lodged their documents to apply for VET registration with ASQA.

ASQA undertakes a performance assessment of ‘New RTO’, and after the performance assessment ‘New RTO’ is found compliant and able to commence trading.

Their fees for this process are as follows:

Lodgement Fee: $600
Assessment fee: $8,000
Total costs: $8,600

The RTO would also need to pay an Annual Registration Charge. Learn more about the Annual Registration Charge.

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Registration renewal fees

Renewal of registration is a periodic process and is dependent on the provider’s registration period.

Read more about the registration renewal process for NVR r egistered providers and ESOS registered providers.

NVR applications

There are two fees associated with the renewal of your registration

Renewal of registration application fee

Paid on application

$320

Renewal of registration assessment fee

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

ESOS applications

The renewal of ESOS registration involves two fees:

Renewal of registration application fee

You will receive a lodgement fee invoice as soon as you submit your application.

$320

Renewal of registration assessment fee

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

Case study/scenario

Community Colleges R Us Ltd has recently submitted to ASQA their renewal application and ASQA undertook a performance assessment to determine whether the organisation was operating in accordance with the Standards.

Following a performance assessment it was identified that the provider was operating in accordance with the Standards.

The time taken to undertake the assessment was:

24 hours to conduct the assessment
8 hours to prepare the audit report

Their fees for this process are as follows:

Application Lodgement fee: $320

Assessment fee: $8,000 (Thirty-two hours of performance assessment (audit) activity at $250 per hour)

The total being: $8,320

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Annual Registration Charge

You can read more about the Annual Registration Charge on our dedicated webpage.

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Change of scope fees

To change your scope of registration you must lodge an application. To learn more about changing your scope of registration read about the application process on our website.

Learn about how to change your NVR scope of registration. Learn about how to change your ESOS scope of registration.

NVR applications

There are two fees associated with changing an NVR scope of registration:

Change of scope application fee

Paid on application

$240

Assessment fee to add one or more courses

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

ESOS applications

There are two fees associated with changing an ESOS scope of registration:

Application fee to add one or more courses

Paid on application

$240

Application to add a delivery location

Paid on application

$240 – Paid on application.

Assessment fee to add one or more courses or add delivery location

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

Please Note: When an NVR registered provider applies simultaneously for a change of scope of registration for both registrations (RTO and ESOS), for the same qualifications, ASQA will only apply one application fee.

Case study/scenario

The Australian CRICOS Training Academy is a VET and CRICOS registered training provider. After some renovations at their primary location, they wish to increase the capacity of students and have also acquired a new delivery location where they wish to commence delivery of two new qualifications.

Their Change of Scope application includes adding two new qualifications to their scope of registration for VET and CRICOS, an increase to the number of students at their primary delivery location and the addition of a new delivery location.

ASQA undertook a performance assessment to determine whether the provider’s application should be approved and whether the organisation was operating in accordance with the Standards.

The time taken to undertake the assessment was:

32 hours to conduct the assessment
8 hours to prepare the audit report

Their fees for this process are as follows:

Change of Scope Lodgement fee (VET and CRICOS): $240
Application to add a delivery location fee: $0 (As the addition of the new location is for delivery of qualifications included in the change of scope application, there is no charge for the application to add a delivery location.)
Assessment fee: $10,000 ($250 per hour at forty hours for the performance assessment (audit) activity)

Total fees and charges (VET and CRICOS): $10,240.

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Performance monitoring charges

Performance monitoring charges are for risk-based activities undertaken by ASQA to understand how a provider is performing. This may take the form of:

Quality monitoring
Compliance audit (also known as Performance assessments (audits))
Complaint investigation

Compliance/quality monitoring/ supporting providers to return to compliance charge

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

Complaint investigation charge

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

$250 per hour

Charges applied in 15-minute increments.

Please Note: If the time taken to complete the investigation or compliance audit is less than 30 minutes, the total amount payable will be zero dollars.

Case study/scenario

RTO Forever Pty Ltd has recently had a thirty-four hour ASQA performance assessment (audit) activity of their operations.

The time taken to undertake the assessment was:

34 hours to conduct the assessment
13 hours to prepare the audit report
3 hours to draft the recommendation

As a result of the assessment, it was identified that the provider was not operating in accordance with the Standards. The applicant elected to address the non-compliance and submit evidence to demonstrate that they had returned to compliance.

The time taken to undertake the assessment was:

36 hours to conduct analysis

Following analyses of the response it was identified that the provider had returned to compliance.

Their fees for this process are $21,500 ($250 per hour at eighty-six hours for the performance assessment (audit) activity)

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VET course accreditation fees

Accreditation application fee

To apply for an accredited course, you need to meet a range of requirements. To learn about how to apply for course accreditation please read more about the application process on our website.

There are two fees associated with the application for accreditation of a course. These are:

Course concept lodgement fee	You will receive a lodgement fee invoice as soon as you submit your application.	$1,100 - Paid on application
Accreditation assessment fee	You will receive a lodgement fee invoice as soon as you submit your application.	$7,750 - Paid on application

Case study/scenario

The provider ‘VET For You’ has written and designed a new course, which they would like to become a nationally accredited VET course. To commence the process, they lodge a VET course concept form and pay the invoice of $1,100.

Once they received approval of the course concept, they completed development of their course and submitted an application for course accreditation.

On submission, an invoice of $7,750 was generated and the applicant made payment so that their application could be assessed.

Following assessment of their application the course was found to be compliant with the Standards and their application for course accreditation was approved.

Their fees for this process are as follows:

Course concept lodgement fee: $1,100.
Accreditation assessment fee: $7,750.

The total ASQA fees for this process were $8,850.

Renewal of accreditation application fee

To apply for an accredited course to be renewed, you need to meet a range of requirements. To learn about how to renew a course please read more about the process on our website.

There are two fees associated with the renewal of an accredited course. These are:

Intention to renew lodgement fee	You will receive a lodgement fee invoice as soon as you submit your renewal application.	$1,100 - Paid on application
Renewal of accreditation assessment fee	You will receive an assessment fee invoice when we have confirmed your renewal application is complete. This needs to be paid before your application is assessed.	$7,750 – Paid on application

Accredited course amendment fee

To amend an accredited course, you need to meet a range of requirements. To learn about how to amend a course please read more about the process on our website.

There is one fee payable for each application to amend an accredited course.

Accreditation amendment fee

You will receive a lodgement fee invoice as soon as you submit your application for amendment.

$1,145 - Paid on application

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Reviews

Internal Review

Under the NVR Act and the ESOS Act, a person affected by a reviewable decision may apply for reconsideration of a decision.

A flat fee of $1,000 is payable for each application for internal review. You will receive an invoice as soon as you submit your application.

If following review of your application it is identified that your application cannot proceed because it does not relate to a reviewable decision, you are entitled to a refund of the amount paid.

Reassessments

Under section of 41 of the NVR Act, a provider may request a reassessment of a range of conditions and deferred decisions.

There are two fees associated with a request for reassessment. These are:

Reassessment
application fee

Paid on application

$1,000

Reassessment
assessment fee

Upon closing of the assessment, an invoice is generated and emailed to the provider.

An hourly service fee is payable for assessment of a reassessment application.

The first four hours taken to consider the request are not charged. Each hour after is charged at a rate of $250/hour.

Charges are applied in 15-minute increments.

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Refunds and waivers

Refunds

A refund may be requested for application or assessment of fees paid, subject to the following conditions:

Application Fee - An application fee payment is refundable if a person notifies ASQA in writing that they wish to withdraw their application and ASQA has received the notification prior to ASQA commencing work on the application.

Assessment Fee - An assessment fee payment is refundable if a person notifies ASQA in writing that they wish to withdraw their application and ASQA has received the notification prior to ASQA commencing assessment of the application.

Please Note

A fee is not refundable if:
- an application is assessed but rejected by ASQA.
- an application is rejected because the applicant has not submitted information within a prescribed timeframe.
The amount of any refund a person would otherwise be entitled to may be reduced by any other amount which the person owes to ASQA (offset).

Waiver of fee or charge

A provider may apply for a waiver of a fee or charge where a special or unusual circumstance exists which would cause the fee or charge to be unreasonable or inequitable.

Upon application, ASQA determines whether, in its opinion, a special or unusual circumstance exists and whether or not the circumstance leads a fee or charge to be unreasonable or unethical.

To avoid confusion, the following circumstances do not constitute special or unusual circumstances for the purposes:

where the person required to pay the fee ceases to exist, or
where the person ceases to be registered under the NVR Act and the Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000; or
where the person ceases to carry on business as an NVR registered training organisation or as a registered provider.
where the person required to pay the charge did not consent to the compliance audit or complaint investigation that resulted in the imposition of a charge; or
where the person required to pay the charge does not agree with the outcome of the compliance audit or complaint investigation that resulted in the imposition of a charge.

Covid-19

To avoid doubt, circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic are special or unusual circumstances which could cause the charge to be unreasonable or inequitable.

Other circumstances where fees and charges are not payable.

If ASQA has delegated particular function(s) specified in subsections 224(2), 225(1) and 226(1) of the NVR Act, the fees prescribed in Schedule A are waived in relation to functions which are performed under the delegation.
ASQA may waive a fee or charge where the amount of the fees that remain unpaid is so small that its recovery would be uneconomical to pursue.

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