Withdrawing before completing your medical course
If you withdraw or are discontinued from your medical course at any time before completing your degree, you will not have to repay the cost of your Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP). You will no longer be considered a participant in the Bonded Medical Program. To ensure your record is updated, you must log into the Bonded Return of Service System (BRoSS) and complete the withdrawal process.
Currently, when you request a withdrawal in BRoSS, you might see an amount listed as payable. This is a temporary system issue and after you request withdrawal, your record will be updated by the department to show a zero balance.
Please be aware there are 2 steps to finalise your bonded obligations:
- Withdraw from your bonded place at university (handled by your university).
- Withdraw from the Program via BRoSS (facilitated by us).
Due to high query volumes, there may be delays in finalising your withdrawal request. We appreciate your prompt action and thank you for your patience.
You will still be liable to pay HECS-HELP (if applicable), as HECS-HELP is separate to the Program. The cost of your study is split into 2 parts:
- the Australian Government pays a share of the costs as a benefit to you – this is your bonded CSP
- you pay your share of the costs – this is your student contribution amount, which you may use a HECS-HELP loan to pay for.
Withdrawing after completing your medical course
If you withdraw from the Program after completing your medical course, you must repay the cost of your CSP.
If you do not finish your 156 weeks of Return of Service Obligation (RoSO) within 18 years, you must also repay, unless there are exceptional circumstances. The amount is reduced if you have completed part of your RoSO.
CSP repayment estimation
If you have access to BRoSS, you can receive an instant withdrawal quote.
The repayment amount is calculated using the formula in section 17 of the Rule.
If you are not able to access BRoSS you can:
- Find the ‘total repayment amount’ on the Department of Education’s website. Please refer to the Commonwealth contribution amount for the funding cluster that includes medicine.
- Add together these amounts for all the part or full years you were at university to work out your ‘total repayment amount’.
Former MRBS participants
If you withdraw from the Program, you are no longer subject to the 6 year ban on accessing Medicare benefits.
A ‘New MRBS’ participant can obtain an individualised repayment estimation via BRoSS. If you opted into the Program from the MRBS Scheme, you are liable for the repayment of the full scholarship amount. Scholarship values have recently been entered into the Bonded Return of Service System and you can review your details there.
If you have completed Program compliant work you may be eligible to have that work recognised. Consequential Health Insurance (Bonded Medical Program) Rule 2020 amendments to enable this are currently underway. If you have completed eligible work (e.g., pre-Fellowship work in an approved location), this may reduce the value of your repayment amount. We recommend waiting until the Rule is amended before considering withdrawing as this may affect your calculation.
The scholarship amount may be reduced on a pro-rata basis, depending on the amount of completed RoSO.