Our data & methodology

We believe comparison sites should be transparent about where their numbers come from. Here is exactly how cheapestcollege.com.au sources and presents course-fee data.

Source

All course, provider and fee data comes from the CRICOS open dataset (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students), published by the Australian Government on data.gov.au. CRICOS is the official register every provider must use to legally enrol international students, which makes it the authoritative source for what is available and what it costs.

How we process it

• We import the latest CRICOS snapshot and normalise providers, courses and locations.
• We exclude expired courses, and exclude nominal placeholder fees (under A$100, such as student-exchange entries) from our “cheapest” rankings so the lists reflect real, payable tuition.
• We rank courses by their listed annual tuition fee, cheapest first.
• Tuition, non-tuition and estimated total course costs are shown as published in CRICOS.

How current is it?

The CRICOS register is updated regularly by the Government, and we refresh our copy on a recurring schedule. The dataset currently in use was last updated 1 July 2026. We display this date across the site so you always know how fresh the figures are.

Important limitations

Fees are indicative. Providers may change fees, offer scholarships, or charge differently for specific intakes — and some courses do not list a fee in CRICOS. Always confirm current fees and entry requirements directly with the provider before applying. cheapestcollege.com.au is an independent site and is not affiliated with the Australian Government, CRICOS, or any provider.