Who must comply with Contribute to the Tuition Protection Service (TPS)?

CRICOS-registered providers must contribute to TPS protecting overseas student fees.

The Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000 (Cth) requires every registered provider to pay a Tuition Protection Service (TPS) levy for each calendar year (s 24). The levy is paid into the Overseas Students Tuition Fund and funds placement of international students in another course, or refunds, when a provider closes, fails to start or stops offering a course. It has four components set under the TPS Levies Act 2012: an administrative fee, a base fee, a risk-rated premium reflecting the provider's risk of default, and a special tuition protection component charged when the fund is below target. Coverage is automatic once a provider is registered on CRICOS and has paid its first levy; registration does not start until that first levy is paid. The TPS Director determines each provider's amount from PRISMS enrolment data and declared tuition fee income.

Applies when the business has CRICOS registration. Where the business has industry: Education — registered training orgs / Education — higher education providers and international activity, check whether you enrol overseas students (CRICOS).

How the regulator frames it: Every provider registered on CRICOS to deliver courses to overseas students on student visas, whether a higher education provider, a registered training organisation or another CRICOS provider, and applicants for CRICOS registration, who must pay a first levy before registration.

What triggers it: Being registered on CRICOS at the levy census date (the 2026 collection covered providers registered as at 1 January 2026), or applying for CRICOS registration.

Jurisdiction: Commonwealth law, so the test is the same in every state and territory.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (35 of 35: no).

The answer is the same in every industry: no. Industry does not change who must comply.

Structure does not change the answer across all industries: for every structure the answer is "no".

Size does not change the answer across all industries: at every size band the answer is "no".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires CRICOS registration.

Starting from a small or large professional services company that does not otherwise meet the test, each of these single facts changes the engine's answer:

• The business is CRICOS-registered to enrol overseas students: it then applies (CRICOS-registered provider).

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has industry: Education — registered training orgs / Education — higher education providers and international activity. It then applies only if you enrol overseas students (CRICOS). That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

Annually. For 2026: request for information (declared overseas student tuition fee income) due 3 March, invoice issued 10 March, payment due 10 April. A provider must also tell the TPS Director as soon as practicable of any matter that might increase its levy (s 25).

Frequency

Annual

Evidence to keep

Response to the TPS request for information declaring prior-year overseas student tuition fees; accurate PRISMS enrolment data and current PEO and eBusiness contacts (levy notices go to them); levy invoice and payment receipt; designated account keeping initial pre-paid tuition fees separate from operating funds; written agreements with students setting out fees and refund terms.

Status

Current

Priority

High

Maximum penalty: Unpaid levy (other than the first levy) attracts a late payment penalty of 20% a year on the unpaid amount from the due date (s 172) and is recoverable as a debt due to the Commonwealth (s 173). If a provider does not pay within 7 days of a reminder notice, its registration is automatically suspended (ss 53D, 90)

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

If this obligation applies to you, so do these 3: the engine uses the same rule for each.

• Maintain CRICOS registration (international student providers)
• International student National Planning Level and provider allocations (2027)
• ESOS Tuition Protection Service (TPS) levy

Rules Mate tracks 2 published obligations tagged "cricos", 1 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated high priority, and is a annual obligation.

Regulated by Australian Skills Quality Authority and Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency.

ASQA: National VET regulator for RTOs. Administers Standards for RTOs and CRICOS for international student providers.

TEQSA: Higher education regulator administering the Higher Education Standards Framework.

• Australian Skills Quality Authority
• Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency

ESOS Act: Federal regulation of international student education.

• Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder