Types of Medical School Places in Australia

CSP, BMP and FFP: Understanding Medical School Fee Structures in Australia

Note on figures in this article: Fee amounts, HECS-HELP loan caps, and BMP return-of-service terms are all set by government policy and reviewed regularly, so they change over time. Any dollar figures or durations mentioned below are illustrative rather than current. Always confirm exact, up-to-date figures directly through Study Assist, your university, and GEMSAS before making any decisions based on cost.

Securing a place at medical school in Australia isn't as simple as applying to your preferred universities and hoping for the best. Australia's university system is heavily regulated and subsidised by the federal government, which means every GEMSAS medical school operates within a fixed funding structure. In practice, that translates into several different types of fee arrangement a student can enter into with their university.

This article walks through the basics of each fee structure GEMSAS medical schools offer. These aren't just administrative details, they carry real, long-term implications for your finances and future student debt, so they're worth understanding properly before you apply.

CSP: Commonwealth Supported Place

This is the fee structure most Australian university students are already familiar with. A CSP is heavily subsidised by the federal government, meaning most of your course fees are covered by public funding. You'll still owe a "student contribution amount," the portion of fees that isn't covered by the subsidy, but a CSP is not the same thing as a HECS-HELP loan, which we'll get to shortly.

Eligibility: To qualify for a medical CSP, you generally need to be an Australian or New Zealand citizen, or hold a permanent visa. Meeting this criteria doesn't guarantee a CSP offer, though. When you complete your GEMSAS application, many medical schools let you apply for a CSP, BMP, and FFP simultaneously.

As covered below, BMP and FFP places are generally considered less desirable by applicants, and as a result, tend to carry a lower effective entry bar. That's largely a function of supply: universities set fixed numbers for each place type, so if you don't quite meet the requirements for a CSP, you may still be competitive in the smaller applicant pool for a BMP or FFP place.

Universities don't formally publish entry benchmarks for any of these three place types, which is exactly why it's worth applying even if you're unsure how competitive your scores are. You might be underestimating yourself, or overestimating everyone else.

BMP: Bonded Medical Place

The Bonded Medical Place is a fee structure unique to medicine, you won't have encountered it in your undergraduate degree. In simple terms, a BMP is designed to improve healthcare access in rural and remote areas by requiring graduates to work in a designated "area of need" for a set period after finishing medical school.

The specific terms of this obligation, how long you're required to serve and where, are set independently for each intake and have changed more than once over the years. Once you accept a BMP place, the terms of your specific agreement are locked in, so it's worth understanding exactly what you're committing to at the time you accept, rather than assuming today's terms will match what you read somewhere else.

Financially, a BMP is identical to a CSP. Eligibility requirements and subsidy levels are the same, and both CSP and BMP places are eligible for HECS-HELP loans if you need them. The real difference is the added rural service obligation, which is exactly why many applicants see a BMP as less appealing than a straight CSP, and why BMP entry requirements tend to sit a little lower as a result.

It's worth weighing that obligation against a broader reality: specialty training rarely keeps junior doctors in one hospital for their whole early career anyway, and rural placements often offer training pathways and hands-on responsibility that can be harder to access in a major city. Many doctors end up spending at least some time working rurally regardless of whether they're fulfilling a BMP contract. Given the fee structure is identical to a CSP, our general advice at Fraser's is that it's usually sensible to apply for both a CSP and a BMP at your preferred university.

FFP: Full Fee Paying Place

The third fee type GEMSAS schools offer is the Full Fee Paying Place, exactly what it sounds like: a position with no government subsidy attached. This is the standard place type for international students who aren't eligible for a CSP or BMP, though domestic students can also be offered FFP places.

The cost difference here is substantial, easily several times higher than an equivalent CSP or BMP place over the course of a degree. On top of that, a full-fee place typically costs more than the maximum amount available through a HECS-HELP loan, which caps out well below the total cost of an FFP degree.

That gap matters practically. CSP and BMP students can generally defer the bulk of their fees until they're working and earning as a doctor. FFP students, by contrast, typically need to pay a substantial portion of their fees upfront well before graduating, once their HECS-HELP loan is exhausted (often partway through the degree), the remaining cost has to be paid directly rather than deferred.

Unsurprisingly, this makes FFP a less attractive option for most domestic students, and it's worth having a clear financial plan in place before choosing this route. The upside, much like the BMP, is reduced competition: a lower GAMSAT, GPA, or interview combination may still be competitive for an FFP place, given the smaller applicant pool.

Other University-Specific Place Types

Beyond the three fee structures above, some medical schools offer additional "specialty" place types that sit outside the fee system entirely and don't affect your admission chances directly. They're still worth understanding, since the choice to opt in or out is often built directly into the GEMSAS preference selection process.

One example is the University of Melbourne's Extended Rural Cohort (ERC) placement scheme, which allows CSP, BMP or FFP students alike to spend extended clinical placements in rural and remote areas. This is purely a curriculum structure choice and has no bearing on your fee type. If you'd like more detail on how individual universities structure their fees and curriculum, it's worth digging into university-specific resources directly.

Related Articles

• Postgraduate Medical School Preferencing Guide — How to weigh GPA, GAMSAT and place type when ranking your university preferences.
• Medical School Applications Process: A Comprehensive Guide — A full walkthrough of the GEMSAS system and application timeline.
• Can International Students Get Into Medical School in Australia? — Entry pathways and fee considerations specifically for international applicants.