Refund Policy and Procedures

a) Any entitlement or restriction to refunds that is different to these will be specified in the Terms and Conditions of each Enrolment Form.

a) The refund rules applicable to any government funded courses will be strictly applied.

b) Where discretion exists under those rules as to whether to allow a refund or not, the refund request will generally be assessed in accordance with the standard refund rules in this policy.

 Fees payable for the course will be based on the proportion of the course commenced or the time expired (whichever is the greater volume), with a minimum Administration Fee in accordance with the clause below.

a) Refunds will apply for any amounts paid in excess of the fees payable and the minimum Administration Fee.

• For example if a student has commenced only 25% of subjects within 10% of time allowed for the course, the fees owing for that course are 25% (based on subjects completed). If they have already fully paid for the course they will be allowed a refund of 75% ie 100% - 25% of the fees. The Administration Fee (below) is deducted from this refund amount.

• Alternatively if a student has commenced only 25% of subjects within 50% of time allowed for the course, the fees owing for that course are 50% (based on time enrolled). If they have already fully paid for the course they will be allowed a refund of 50% ie 100% - 50% of the fees. The Administration Fee (below) is deducted from this refund amount.

• If a student has not fully paid fees, they will only be entitled to a refund of any amount already paid in excess of the fees owing at the time of cancellation.

b) A minimum Administration Fee amount will be retained from fees paid to cover enrolment administration costs. Full refunds are therefore not given after a student has been approved for enrolment. This applies regardless of whether the student cancels their course before downloading or commencing a subject, noting that significant administration effort occurs to establish the enrolment prior to that time.

The only exception is where the student or employer /client was specifically given an offer in writing from a College Director that varied the refund policy or was under a trial period that waived the requirement for an initial fee deposit.

The Administration Fee amount is published in Incidental Fees on the Course Fees page

c) Subject commencement means that the learning and/or assessment materials have been downloaded and/ or online activities commenced, or a workshop has been attended or paper based materials sent (as applicable). Time expired means the number of months or part months past, as a % of the number of months allowed as the normal enrolment term for that qualification.

d) Where a government subsidised program requires different refund rules these will be specified in that programs Additional Terms and Conditions and will override the Refunds Policy to the extent of any inconsistency.

e) Refunds may be made by bank transfer to the specific banking deposit details provided by the student.  However, any upfront course payments made by Credit Card will not be refunded directly to a bank account except at the College’s sole discretion.   In the event a refund is required for these Students who will not continue their enrolment, they will be advised to contact their Credit Card company and request a charge back.    

Instalment Payments and Fees Payable

Where the course fee / enrolment fee is paid in instalments (ie employers are often invoiced $500 at enrolment and the balance at 6 mos), and the student/trainee/employer cancels the course, the total amount owing upon cancellation will be based on the progress or time enrolled as outlined in the Refund Policy.  This also applies to private students.

Where the amount paid up to the point of cancellation does not meet or exceed the calculated Fees Payable, an updated invoice will be provided to meet the minimum Payable Fee.

Instalment Payments and Fees Payable

Where the course fee / enrolment fee is paid in instalments (ie employers are often invoiced $500 at enrolment and the balance at 6 mos), and the student/trainee/employer cancels the course, the total amount owing upon cancellation will be based on the progress or time enrolled as outlined in the Refund Policy.  This also applies to private students.

Where the amount paid up to the point of cancellation does not meet or exceed the calculated Fees Payable, an updated invoice will be provided to meet the minimum Payable Fee.

ACCM College takes our obligations and commitments to our learners and employers seriously.

We take great care to ensure that we can fully provide all of the services agreed upon during the enrolment or program development process.

In the unlikely event ACCM College is unable to provide the agreed services, learners and employers are welcome and encouraged to submit a refund request through our normal process.

Please provide specific details and applicable documentation regarding the services you believe were not delivered by ACCM College, so that we can handle your request promptly and fairly in accordance with our policies.

If you would like to discuss your concerns, please contact ACCM College and ask for the Director of RTO Operations

a) Fee Refund eligibility is calculated based on the date we receive a students withdrawal notice. Therefore the reason for withdrawal is not needed.

b) However if a student is claiming a refund in excess of the normal refund practices, they must provide details of extenuating circumstances.

In general, changes to work commitments are not an extenuating circumstance as College courses are timetabled as part time study to accommodate full time jobs and also busy times.

Also, as fees are only payable based on subjects started or study time already expired, medical and personal circumstances are also not extenuating circumstances for the purposes of this policy. The exception is where the situation reasonably prevented the student from advising the College of their inability to study. For example the student was hospitalised and was only able to advise us of cancellation from their course when they were well enough to go home.

c) The details of the extenuating circumstances should be provided to the College along with evidence that supports the date the student was unable to continue with their course. This can be provided as an attachment to the Refund Form.

d) Refunds for extenuating circumstances may take up to 2 weeks to process and may require further details to be provided.

Refund eligibility is based on the date of receipt of your advice to the College (by email or post) that you are withdrawing from studies.

Note that withdrawal requests are acknowledged the same business day as they are received. If you do not receive an acknowledgement you must make other efforts to advise us of your withdrawal. Until we receive your withdrawal notice you are still responsible for course fees.

If you have, at the time of notice of withdrawal, paid more than the Fees Payable (as calculated above), you will be eligible for a refund regardless of the reason for withdrawal. 

If you are eligible for a refund provide us with details in writing of where to make payment to: BSB and account number. Ensure these are correct as we are unable to recover amounts paid to incorrectly advised bank account details.

Please note that any upfront course payments made by Credit Card will not be refunded directly to a bank account except at the College’s sole discretion.   In the event a refund is required for Students who will not continue their enrolment, they will be advised to contact their Credit Card company and request a charge back.    

a) Learners and/or employers who disagree with a refund decisions should follow the Complaints and Grievance Policy.

a) Where Fees payable are not paid on time ACCM College will withhold formal results and documents such as Qualification Testamurs and Statements of Attainment.

b) Where a student cancels their enrolment and has not paid for the proportion of the course, or time of the course that they have undertaken, they will be liable to continue payments until this proportion is met. Statements of Attainment will not be issued until the payment is made that reflects the proportion of the course undertaken.

a) Where a deferral or suspension has been approved, the obligation for fee payments for the time of the deferral is also deferred.

b) If at the end of the deferral period the student elects to withdraw (and advises ACCM College) their eligibility to a refund will be determined from the date the deferral period started.

c) This allows students an option to put their course "on hold" without a financial impact.

a) The refund rules applicable to any government funded courses will be strictly applied.

b) Where discretion exists under those rules as to whether to allow a refund or not, the refund request will generally be assessed in accordance with the standard refund rules in this policy.

a) The College under Smart and Skilled is required to have a refunds policy. The College Refunds Policy applies to Smart and Skilled trainees and individual students.

Student Contribution Fee Reductions and Exemptions

Please ensure you also visit our Queensland Traineeship Page which explains all aspects of aTraineeship under the Skills Assure program here.

Under the User Choice Policy, a Partial Exemption of the Student Contribution Fees applies for certain categories.

Per the QLD User Choice Policy found here: 

2.6.2 Partial exemption - tuition fees

The SAS (ACCM College) must charge 40 per cent of the student contribution fee where the participant falls into one or more of the following exemption categories:

(a) The participant was or will be under 17 years of age at the end of February in the year in which the SAS provides training, and the participant is not at school and has not completed year 12.

(b) The participant holds a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card issued under Commonwealth law, or is the partner or a dependant of a person who holds a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, and is named on the card.

(c) The participant issues the SAS with an official form under Commonwealth law confirming that the participant, his or her partner or the person of whom the participant is a dependant, is entitled to concessions under a Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card.

(d) The participant is an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person. Acceptable evidence is as stated on the Training Contract and AVETMISS VET Enrolment Form.

2.6.3 Full Exemption of Student Contribution Fee

The SAS may apply full exemption from the student contribution fee where the participant falls into one or more of the following exemption categories:

(a) Where payment of the student contribution fee would cause extreme financial hardship, then the SAS may waive these fees

1. The fee waiver process should be in place at the time of the participant’s enrolment.
2. For 2.6.3 (a) of this Fees and Charges section, the SAS must have a reasonable internal process to manage an appeal about the outcome of an application under financial hardship.

(b) Where the Queensland Government, as represented by the departmental officer responsible for the User Choice budget, advises in writing that fees are optional. On receipt of such advice, the SAS may choose not to collect the student contribution fee. In this circumstance, any decision by the SAS not to collect fees does not create a liability for the department. The SAS may not apply for reimbursement by the department of fee revenue foregone.

Refer to the User Choice Price List, as published on the department’s website, for information on where fee exemptions are applicable. The SAS must apply full exemption from the student contribution fee where the participant falls into one or more of the following exemption categories:

(a) where credit transfer/national recognition has been applied to a unit of competency/module

(b) the participant is a school-based apprentice or trainee

(c) the participant is undertaking a qualification as part of the Skilling Queenslanders for Work – Work Skills Traineeship program.

ACCM Required Employer Fee

In some cases, where state-subsidies do not fully cover training costs, an additional Employer Fee will apply, these are includes in the quoted cost as shown on the Fee Tracker.

This is allowable under the QLD User Choice Policy found here: 

2.6.5 Additional charges

Employer/industry The SAS may seek additional charges from the employer/industry. Any additional charges must be negotiated up-front and disclosed to the employer/industry prior to the participant’s enrolment.

In cases where the Employer does not intend to pay for the Student Contribution Fee, please let ACCM College know and we will provide a detailed breakdown of costs to assist.

Refunding the User Choice Student Contribution Fee and/or Employer Contribution Fee

Where the Trainee cancels their Traineeship (for any reason), the Student Contribution Fee and/Employer Fee will be refunded for all Units that have not commenced training.  Where a Unit has commenced, a proportional refund will be returned. 

Completed/Competent Units contribution fees will not be returned.

There is no need to request a refund as these will be returned automatically as part of the cancellation process.