A Unique Student Identifier (USI) is your individual education number issued by the government. It only takes 5 minutes to create, and once you create it, you have it for life.
If you have undertaken any vocational education or training (even a First Aid course) since 2015 you probably already have a USI.
A USI is your individual education number issued by the government. The Australian government introduced the USI to the Higher Education sector to manage students’ records from various education providers, nationally.
Eventually, the USI will replace the Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN) which most Higher Education students have now. This will allow a more seamless and effective way to record and manage Student Learning Entitlements and HELP loan debts.
You will need a USI in order to receive commonwealth financial assistance, and to obtain your qualification.
For more information about the USI process and/or privacy policy, visit the USI help page and the USI privacy page.
If you have undertaken any vocational education or training (even a First Aid course) since 2015 you may already have a USI.
If you do not have a USI, you can create one. To create a USI, you will need to have a valid form of identification on hand.
If you are travelling to Australia to study, you must land in Australia and go through customs before you can create a USI using your non-Australian passport and visa as a form of ID.
From 1 January 2023, all students studying in Australia, including international students, must provide UOW with their USI in order to apply to graduate and receive their award.
However, when you need to provide UOW with your USI depends on a number of factors, including your student type:
All new and returning domestic UOW students who submit a new electronic Commonwealth Assistance Form (eCAF) on SOLS to update their HECS-HELP or FEE-HELP Loan option or who access OS-HELP from January 2021 will need to provide UOW with their USI by Census date of the first session that their new loan applies to. This will also apply to SA-HELP Loans from 1 January 2023.
UOW College
If you are travelling to Australia to study, you must land in Australia and go through customs before you can create a USI using your non-Australian passport and visa as a form of ID. Once you have your USI you must provide it to UOW.
If you are studying offshore (outside of Australia) for the entire duration of your course, you do not need a USI.
More information for International and offshore students >
You must provide your USI directly to UOW. When setting up your USI account via the government portal, please do not select to provide permission to a provider. This will not give UOW access to your USI - you must provide it through one of the options below.
When you enrol online in your course, you’ll be prompted to enter your USI. You can choose to not provide a USI at this step, however you will need to tick the box to acknowledge that you will provide it at a later date. If you are required to provide a USI (link to ‘who requires a USI), you must do so prior to the census date of your first session.
New and returning students can provide their USI in SOLS by:
Note: UOW College VET students should provide their USI via UOW College processes and not via SOLS.
To create a USI, you will need to provide personal details and contact information. The information provided will help ensure duplicate USIs aren’t created and your education records are linked to your USI account.
You must ensure that your personal information in the USI portal matches your personal details held by UOW (e.g. name is consistent).
Visit the Australia Government USI website to find out what details are required to apply for a USI.
When you create a USI, you will be provided with information regarding the handling of your information. More details at usi.gov.au/about-us/privacy.
Your USI may have failed verification as your personal details at UOW do not match those held by the Government in the USI Portal.
You need to ensure that your full name and date of birth details at UOW in SOLS match exactly with your details in the Government's USI Portal.
We suggest using the same form of ID in the USI portal that matches your UOW details.
If your information in USI and/or UOW was based on an identification document that doesn't reflect the name you'd like to use, you need to resolve this with the relevant agency that issued that document (e.g. married or maiden names, preferred names, native or English names, commas, hyphens and spaces).
The USI we collect from you will be verified and disclosed back to the Government based on your enrolment at the University of Wollongong. The USI will eventually replace the existing Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number (CHESSN).
Your USI will be held securely by UOW against your student record and only utilised for the process of verifying your identity and study entitlements back to the Government.
Further information can be found on the UOW’s Privacy homepage at uow.edu.au/privacy/.
If you are required to provide a USI to UOW (refer to the above section ‘When do I need to provide UOW with my USI?’) and haven’t done so by the required date, you will be contacted accordingly as your enrolment may be impacted in one of the following ways:
If you are a Domestic student and do not have a USI, you will not be eligible for a Commonwealth Supported Place. This may mean that to continue to study at UOW, you could be faced with full, upfront fees without the government’s contribution. That could mean fees of over $500 per credit point required to be paid upfront.
If you have a genuine personal objection to being assigned a USI, you can apply for an exemption.
Successful exemption will mean that you will not be eligible for Commonwealth Support or Assistance.
If you decide to apply for an exemption, you will need to let your student administration office know: