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When to enrol in your units

Like any well-prepared student, you'll want to enrol as soon as possible after you've accepted your course offer.

Make sure you enrol in units for the full calendar year, i.e. Semester 1 and Semester 2. Don’t worry about your first semester results at this point. If you don’t pass a unit you can make changes in time for your second semester.

Note: If you’re starting a course mid-year (Semester 2) or in Summer, you can only enrol in units for that teaching period.

Enrolment opening and closing dates

Enrolment happens through our system called 'SIMO' (Student Information Management Online).

Use your student ID (it’s in your course offer email) to login to SIMO.

There are opening dates and closing dates for different teaching periods. You should check our current schedule for enrolment dates.

Check dates

What's the last date you can withdraw from a unit?

You can withdraw from a unit without incurring a financial penalty up until the 'census date' for your study period.

The census date is the date when enrolment is considered to be finalised.

After this date, you'll be charged for your course and start accumulating a HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP debt.

Read more

What's an academic penalty date?

So many dates…we just need you to know about this one.

The academic penalty date is the date that your academic participation in a unit(s) is confirmed – it’s not the same as the census date.

If you withdraw from a unit after the academic penalty date, and up until midnight prior to the beginning of the exam period, the unit will appear on your academic record with a WF (withdraw fail) grade.

After midnight, your academic record will show a fail. Ouch.

More about withdrawal dates

Related articles

Paying your tuition fees

There are different university fees, due dates and ways to pay them for international and domestic students.

Read More

uni•speak

What does
that mean?
Here's a quick guide to some of the things we mention during the Enrolling stage.

  • This is the date when your enrolment is deemed to be finalised. After the census date you'll be charged for your course and start accumulating a HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP debt. To withdraw from a unit without incurring the cost for that unit, you must do so by the census date.

  • FEE-HELP is a loan that the Australian Government provides to cover tuition fees for some courses. You may be eligible for this loan if you are in a full fee-paying course and you are an Australian Citizen or hold a Permanent Humanitarian Visa.

    If you receive a FEE-HELP loan, the Australian Tax Office records the amount of your debt against your Tax File Number and you repay the loan through the tax system, once your income reaches the minimum threshold amount.

  • HECS-HELP is a loan from the Australian Government, which pays university tuition fees for students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Course and who are either Australian Citizens, an eligible New Zealand Citizen, or holders of a Permanent Humanitarian Visa.

    If you opt to defer your tuition fees on a HECS-HELP loan, the Australian Tax Office records your debt against your Tax File Number and you repay the loan through the taxation system, depending on how much you are earning.

  • SIMO is short for 'Student Information Management Online'. It sounds better too!

    SIMO is the system you’ll access through the Student Portal to:

    • enrol and re-enrol;
    • obtain your class timetable;
    • see your exam times and dates;
    • view your results; and
    • view your Statement of Account.

  • If you withdraw from units or discontinue from your course after the financial census date you’ll be liable for the cost of those units. However, if you can demonstrate special, compelling or compassionate circumstances that have impacted on your ability to complete the requirements of the unit – that occurred after the financial census date – you may be eligible for remission of fees.

    Also see 'Census Date'.

View more uni-speak