How passing more than half is calculated

Tertiary courses have an Equivalent Full Time Student (EFTS) value assigned to them that measures the amount of study they cover.

Many education providers divide their courses into papers and assign an EFTS value to each paper.

The EFTS value is also used to determine whether a tertiary course is full-time, based on the total length of the course. To be full-time, a course must meet the minimum EFTS value required for a course of that length.

For information on the minimum EFTS values see:

• Full time tertiary

A student must pass more than half of the work of a Student Allowance approved full-time course of study.

This means a student needs to pass more than half of the EFTS of a full-time course of that length.

When Limited full-time (LFT) study has been approved, a student must pass more than half of the EFTS of the course they are undertaking.

For more information on Limited full-time study see:

• Limited full-time study

When a student undertakes study with an EFTS value greater than the minimum amount required for a full-time course, they are only required to pass more than half the work of a full-time course.

Example 1

A student taking a full year course of at least 0.8 EFTS, needs to pass more than 0.4 EFTS.

Example 2

A student taking a single semester course of 18 weeks of at least 0.4 EFTS, needs to pass more than 0.2 EFTS.

Example 3

A student approved to study 0.2 EFTS on a Limited full-time basis, needs to pass more than 0.1 EFTS.

Example 4

A student who does not pass more than half of a full-year course can have their entitlement to a Student Allowance reinstated, by passing more than half of the work of a full-time semester of study.

This means they can be approved a Student Allowance in the second semester of a full-time course if they pass more than half the work of the first semester.

Example 5

A student enrolled in a 25 week course must be studying at least 0.625 EFTS to be considered full-time. Therefore they need to pass more than half of 0.625 EFTS, i.e. they need to pass more than 0.3125 EFTS.

Suspension for failure to pass more than half of a full-time course applies regardless of when the failure occurred.

For example, if a student failed to pass more than half of a full-time course 10 years ago for which they received a Student Allowance, and they have not received a Student Allowance since then, the suspension still applies and the student needs to meet the reinstatement criteria to receive a Student Allowance again.

Some older courses may not have an EFTS value. To calculate failure to pass more than half for these courses, you should use the method or calculation used by the education provider to determine failure.

If a student received a Student Allowance for only part of a failed course, the suspension still applies.