What to do if the institution you are studying at closes? 💡

2 jul 20215 Min. de lectura

If you are worried about a possible closure of your institution and you feel disoriented, here we have information that can help you to solve your doubts.

The first thing you should do, is to talk directly with the school to find all the information about it, and if this is not enough, and you have more concerns, you can contact ✉️ operations@tps.gov.au directly.

We always advise you, just in case, to have the receipts of any payment you have made to the university, or ask to be given an official record of the time you have been and / or what you have completed, with the respective evaluations 📑.

In the event that you do NOT have a record of your study, nor qualifications, nor academic transcript, to receive credit for the study you have already completed, the new institution may

give evidence of your previous learning, for this, you may have to pay the new provider to evaluate your skills and knowledge, through a leveling.

We imagine that if the institution closes, you may be wondering if; can you stay in Australia?... we'll tell you if you can. It usually allows you to stay a while longer, while you find an alternative course.

If your institution closes, you should know that it must find another course so that you can study, and if you find an acceptable alternative enrollment, you must obtain a letter of offer or a confirmation of enrollment (CoE) within 3 months of the date your course was cancelled or the institution closed.

Otherwise, if they do not do so in this period of time, the Tuition Protection Service will help you find an alternative course with an alternative provider, in the event that this is not of interest to you TPS will pay you a refund of any tuition fees not taken.

For more detailed information, you can check here.

Tps can offer you a "suitable alternative course", the criteria that will be used this, are as follows:

The course must be registered in the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for

Foreign students (CRICOS).

It should have similarity in terms of level and field of study as the original course.

Geographical location of the place of delivery.

Acceptability to the student.

If you do not agree with any alternative that they offer you, you must demand a refund of any charges you have paid, for which you have not yet received the registration.

If you accept this refund, TPS will notify DIBP that this has been paid to you. This can have implications for your stay in Australia on a student visa.

On the other hand, there are other types of situations that can happen, such as starting an alternative course and you realize that it is not to your liking... in this case TPS, will help you find a suitable course.

If for some reason, you withdrew from the course, just before the university closed, you can request a refund to TPS, they will help you calculate the amount, they will ask you to show the "written agreement" you have with the institution and any payment records you have made.

On the other hand, with all the contingency we know that there are many people who are managing from abroad, if this is your case, and you already paid the fees of the course, but they still do not issue you the student visa, and the institution closed, they must look for an alternative course, if they do not, and they do not make the refund , you must register in tps' online system, and ask to be paid in advance for payments that have already been made.

When you're online and registering for the first time, you must provide information such as "proof of identity," scan your student ID and passport pages, including your visa details, and if you request a refund, consider receipts as well.

If your level of English, not very good, do not worry, the TPS will give you all the necessary advice so that you can manage, including translators, interpreters etc.

This is thanks to your administrator.

When your refund request is approved, you should know how to calculate it, it is done based on the amount of time you have studied, for example, if you paid $10,000 for a ten-week course, and your course stopped being provided after five weeks, your refund amount would be approximately $5,000.

This amount is known as the unspent tuition fee.

More details about the refund calculation are specified in this link.

About the reimbursements for housing costs, health insurance, or the like that you made to the institution or agent that closed, the news is not very encouraging, since unfortunately TPS is designed to help you only find an alternative course or refund the fee for the non-taken. Any additional, other than the above, cannot be managed by them.

On the other hand, you should know that if you are enrolled in a course that is not on the CRICOS register, (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Foreign Students), TPS also does not have the authority to help you.

It is essential to have all the specifications so that the TPS can support you... in the event that it is evident that your institution closes. You should contact this email so that the solution is as soon as possible.

It should be noted, that each student must register individually, no one can do it for you, and if you are a minor, you must include the tutor's data when they register.

For this point, you should also keep in mind that your representative or parents should contact dibp immediately to discuss visa options.

If you still have doubts about what will happen to your visa, in case of closure of your institution, contact DIBP as soon as possible.

If you are in Australia you can contact the following number:

📞131 881.

In the event that you need to stay longer in Australia, to complete your student visa qualification, you must check the expiration date of this, and if you have not yet finished your new course, you must require an additional student visa, before your current visa expires.

If you would like to directly search for your own course, and not rely on license plate protection, you can do so within 3 months of the date your course was cancelled or your provider closed.