The Universities Accord (Opening the Doors of Opportunity) Bill 2026, in itself, does not do what it says in the cover.

Although the minister’s promotional material focuses on new Commonwealth supported places expected over coming years he could have funded those under the current system – albeit imprecisely, as the current system largely allocates in dollars rather than places. The most we can say in favour of the bill and new places is that it will be more obvious whether or not they have been funded.

Where the bill differs most from the current funding system is in reducing places at the university level. In the previous post I explained how a year of under-enrolment could result in a lower allocation of places two years later. In today’s post I describe proposed new restrictions on over-enrolments, students taken above the allocated level.

All legislative references in the following text are to the Higher Education Support Act 2003 unless otherwise specified, ‘current’ signalling the legislation now in force, ‘new’ signalling the amending bill.

As with the earlier posts, this is one is dealing with complex legislation so I am happy to receive feedback through comments or direct communication.

The current system

Under the current ‘higher education courses’ grant – all CSP categories other than medicine or Indigenous students in demand driven places – there is maximum basic grant amount. The value of CSPs delivered in this category is calculated as the Commonwealth contribution rate * the number of student places delivered. If the value of these places exceeds the MBGA the university gets the MBGA but no more: current section 33-5(2). In 2024 nine universities delivered student places worth at least 5% more than their MBGA.

For student contributions, however, there is no cap. The provisions on upfront student contributions and HECS-HELP loans give the Commonwealth no power to intervene on these payments: current sections 93-15 and 96-1 respectively.

The proposed system – capped student contributions

There will be a transitional scheme for currently over-enrolled universities, which I cover below. First I will focus on the long-run system under which universities will get an over-enrolment buffer, for which student contributions are paid, but then be penalised student contribution revenue for places in excess of the buffer.

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