The TEQSA fee changes of the past few years come down to one government decision: the regulator now recovers the full cost of its regulatory activity from the providers it regulates. That decision produced a phased annual charge that reached one hundred per cent of cost from 1 January 2025, a revised schedule of application fees that took effect on 1 January 2026, and a discount of up to seventy per cent for smaller providers. Initial registration now costs $14,700 at the preliminary stage and $112,100 at the substantive stage, before any course fees.
This article traces how the fees got here, what the current schedule says, and how a provider should plan for the next revision, drawing on fifteen years of TEQSA registration work in which I have watched the cost of an application rise from a modest administrative charge to a serious line in a business plan.
Why the TEQSA fee changes happened
For most of its first decade TEQSA was funded largely by appropriation, with providers paying application fees that covered only part of the cost of assessing them. The Australian Government then decided that regulatory activity should be cost-recovered, in line with the Commonwealth charging framework that applies across agencies. TEQSA set out the mechanics in its Cost Recovery Implementation Statement, which explains that the annual Registered Higher Education Provider charge was phased in at twenty per cent of cost in 2023, fifty per cent in 2024 and one hundred per cent from 1 January 2025.
The logic is simple even if the effect is not. Under cost recovery, a fee is meant to reflect what it actually costs TEQSA to do the work, and the work of assessing a new provider is substantial. The fees are therefore not a tax on ambition; they are an estimate of assessor time. That framing matters, because it tells you where the fees will go next: wherever TEQSA's costs go.
What the 2026 schedule says
The current application-based fees took effect on 1 January 2026. A prospective provider pays $14,700 for the preliminary assessment of an initial registration application and $112,100 for the substantive assessment. Each course accredited alongside that application costs a further $6,000 at the preliminary stage and $44,700 at the substantive stage, with nested related courses at $40,000 each. Renewal of registration runs from $66,000 to $113,000 without self-accrediting authority and up to $129,200 with it.
For registered providers adding courses, accreditation is $5,200 preliminary and $19,100 substantive, with renewal of accreditation at $24,500 per course. Self-accrediting authority costs $51,800 for a new grant, a change of provider category costs $51,800, and CRICOS registration costs $24,500. All fees exclude GST and none are refundable if the application fails. I keep a fuller breakdown on our TEQSA fees page, and the founding article on how much TEQSA registration costs puts the fees in the context of total start-up spend.
How the small-provider discount works
The government softened the effect of cost recovery on smaller providers with a tiered discount on application fees. Providers with fewer than 5,000 equivalent full-time student load receive discounts that reach seventy per cent at the smallest end of the scale, tapering as enrolments grow and disappearing entirely above the 5,000 EFTSL mark.
In practice almost every private provider I work with sits in the discounted tiers, and a prospective provider with no students yet is at the bottom of the scale. That is why a new college's real outlay is usually well below the headline figures. It is also why the discount is worth checking carefully before you budget, because the tier is determined by reported student load, and a provider that grows quickly can move up a tier between one application and the next.
How the fee consultations work
TEQSA does not change fees quietly. Each revision has been preceded by a consultation paper setting out the proposed schedule and the cost modelling behind it, published on its fees and charges consultation page, with a period for written submissions from providers and peak bodies. The 2026 schedule followed that pattern, and the stated reason for the increase was the rising cost of regulatory activity.
In my experience few private providers make submissions, and those that do tend to argue about the total rather than the structure. The structure is where the leverage is. The split between preliminary and substantive fees, the treatment of nested courses, and the EFTSL tiers all have direct consequences for a small provider's cash flow, and TEQSA has shown willingness to adjust these details when the sector explains the practical effect.
Planning for the next round of changes
I advise clients to treat the current schedule as a floor, not a fixed price. Cost recovery means fees track TEQSA's costs, and an agency whose remit keeps expanding into integrity, academic cheating services and generative artificial intelligence does not have falling costs. Any business plan with a registration or renewal more than a year away should carry a contingency above the published figure.
The second piece of planning is timing. In my experience the fee that applies is the one in force when the application is lodged, so a provider close to ready in the last quarter of a year has a genuine reason to lodge before 1 January rather than after it, and a reason to watch the consultation page for the next set of TEQSA fee changes. The third is simply to avoid paying twice. A withdrawn or refused application forfeits its fee, and the fastest way to waste a substantive fee is to lodge an application that is not complete, specific and true. The cheapest TEQSA application I have ever seen was the one that drew no request for further information at all.
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Frequently asked questions
Why did TEQSA fees increase so much?
The Australian Government moved TEQSA to full cost recovery, so fees now reflect the actual cost of regulatory activity rather than a subsidised administrative charge. The annual provider charge was phased in over 2023 to 2025 and application fees were revised again from 1 January 2026.
How much does initial TEQSA registration cost in 2026?
The preliminary assessment fee is $14,700 and the substantive assessment fee is $112,100, excluding GST, plus $6,000 and $44,700 for each course accredited with the application. Discounts of up to seventy per cent apply to providers with fewer than 5,000 EFTSL.
Are TEQSA fees refundable if the application fails?
No. Fees are not refundable, which is why an incomplete or premature application is expensive: a withdrawal or refusal forfeits the fee and a fresh application attracts a fresh fee.
Where can I see proposed fee changes before they take effect?
TEQSA publishes consultation papers and the resulting schedules on its fees and charges pages, and invites written submissions from providers before each revision.
Dr Brendan Moloney is CEO of Darlo Higher Education, Australia's largest specialist TEQSA consultancy. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne, is a Cambridge University Press author on governance in higher education, and has advised private providers on registration and course accreditation for more than fifteen years.