Fees, Payments and Refunds

Where our fees are shown

Each course page shows the course fee. For echocardiography courses, your written offer confirms the fee, any deposit and the due dates before you pay. Group bookings are priced in a written quote.

Every price we show is the full price in Australian dollars, including any GST. We'll only charge fees that were shown in this policy, on the course page, or in your written offer or quote when you enrolled.

All our courses are fee-for-service. You can't get government subsidy or funding for them through us.

First aid fees

The nationally recognised training we deliver is currently:

• HLTAID011 Provide First Aid: $135 per person
• HLTAID009 Provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation: $90 per person

The fee covers the online theory, your practical session and assessment, and your Statement of Attainment. We only charge extra in the situations described under transfers, missed sessions and other fees below.

Employers can book on-site group training across metropolitan Melbourne.

First aid fees are due in full when you book an individual place. Organisations pay for group bookings by the due date on our invoice, before the session.

Echocardiography fees

Our echocardiography courses are non-accredited professional training. Each course page shows its fee.

Applied Echocardiography

A deposit of $2,500, including GST, secures your place. The balance is due two weeks before the intake starts.

Clinical Rotations

The fee is due two weeks before Clinical Rotations starts.

Other echocardiography courses

For Basic Echocardiography and our single courses (the courses for doctors that make up Complete Critical Care Echocardiography, booked on their own), the fee is due in full when you accept your written offer. For Complete Critical Care Echocardiography, a deposit of $1,500 secures your place and the balance is due two weeks before the course starts. Some courses have optional extras, such as a clinic observation and practice block, priced on the course page or quoted separately.

Payment plans

We don't run payment plans ourselves. If you'd like to pay in instalments, we can give you details of third-party finance providers that may offer a payment plan. Any arrangement is between you and that provider.

Credit from Basic to Applied Echocardiography

If you complete Basic Echocardiography with us and then enrol in Applied Echocardiography, we credit $1,800 of your Basic Echocardiography fee towards your Applied Echocardiography fee. The conditions, including when the credit expires, are in our RPL and Credit Transfer Policy.

Group discount for Complete Critical Care Echocardiography

When colleagues enrol together in Complete Critical Care Echocardiography, each person gets 15% off the course fee. The discount is for the complete course only. At least two people must enrol together in the same intake.

Industry Based Learning

There's no Scope fee for Industry Based Learning, which is a salaried trainee position with Heartscope. Your university fees and other study costs are separate and aren't paid to us.

Costs not included in your fee

You'll also need:

• a device and internet access for online learning
• for first aid, a Unique Student Identifier (USI), which is free from usi.gov.au
• transport to your session, venue or clinic
• for Basic and Applied Echocardiography, a suitable adult volunteer to scan at every practical session
• for Clinical Rotations and Industry Based Learning, a current police check and a Working with Children Check, both of which you arrange yourself

How to pay

You pay first aid fees by card through our payment provider, Stripe, when you enrol in the first aid student portal.

You pay echocardiography fees by bank transfer (EFT) to the account on your invoice, by the due date it shows.

If an organisation booked your place, it pays our invoice. If it hasn't paid, we still issue your Statement of Attainment on time. We recover the unpaid amount from the organisation.

If a payment is late

If a payment is overdue, we'll contact you before doing anything else. If it stays unpaid and we haven't agreed another arrangement with you, we may pause your access to training and the learning portal until it's paid. We'll give you 10 business days' written notice before we do this.

Apart from places an organisation has booked (see 'How to pay'), we issue certificates only once all agreed fees are paid.

Cancelling or withdrawing

These rules cover cancelling for your own reasons. They don't limit what you're entitled to if we cancel or change your course, or under the Australian Consumer Law. If your situation fits more than one rule, we use whichever comes first in the list.

If you cancel before a balance or fee is due, you don't have to pay it. The refund rules below only cover money you've already paid.

How to cancel

Email admin@scopeinstitute.edu.au with your name, your course and its date. We count your notice from the day we receive your email. If you can't email, call 1300 508 809 and we'll help. Business days are Monday to Friday, excluding Victorian public holidays. Other periods in this policy, such as 7 or 21 days, are calendar days.

First aid courses

If you booked your own place:

• Within 5 business days of enrolling, if you haven't started the online theory: full refund.
• 7 days or more before your practical session: full refund. If you've started the online theory, we refund 50% of the fee instead.
• Less than 7 days before your practical session: you can transfer to another session or send someone in your place, as explained below. If neither suits you, we refund 50% of the fee.
• After your practical session: the training has been delivered, so there's no refund for a change of mind. If something went wrong with it, see 'Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law'. If you couldn't finish the session, see 'Missed sessions and re-booking'.

If an organisation booked training for a group, its cancellation terms are in its written quote. Unless the quote says otherwise, the organisation can cancel or reschedule at no cost with more than 5 business days' notice, pays 50% of the quoted price with 3 to 5 business days' notice, and pays the full price with 2 business days' notice or less.

Echocardiography courses

Your course starts on the start date in your written offer.

• Within 5 business days of enrolling, if the course hasn't started: full refund, including any deposit.
• 21 days or more before the course starts: full refund less the deposit, if your course has one.
• Less than 21 days before the course starts: you can transfer to a later date or intake, as explained below. If we fill your place, we refund your fees less any deposit. If we can't fill it, we refund 50% of the fees you've paid, less any deposit.
• After the course starts: no refund for a change of mind. If serious illness, injury, a bereavement or another serious event outside your control stops you continuing, we refund the fees for the scheduled weeks not yet delivered, less any deposit. For anything beyond this, see 'Compassionate circumstances'.

Compassionate circumstances

If serious illness, injury, a bereavement or another serious event outside your control affects your studies, tell us. We'll consider a full or partial refund, or a transfer, even where the rules above wouldn't give you one. We may ask for supporting documents, such as a medical certificate. We'll give you our decision and our reasons in writing.

Transfers and substitutions

Transfers

First aid. You can move to another session at no cost if you tell us at least 7 days before your practical session. With less notice, the transfer fee is $25, which we waive if you give us a medical certificate.

Echocardiography. You can transfer once to a later date or intake at no cost if you ask at least 21 days before your course starts. Any other transfer is free if we fill your place. If we can't fill it, we treat it as a withdrawal under the rules above.

When you transfer, the fees you've paid move with you to the new date.

Substitutions

For first aid and our single echocardiography courses, you can send someone in your place at no cost if they meet the course's entry requirements. We don't accept substitutes for Basic Echocardiography, Applied Echocardiography or Clinical Rotations. For first aid, the substitute must complete their own enrolment, including the pre-enrolment check, their USI and the online theory, before the session. For an echocardiography course, we need to confirm that they meet the entry requirements before the course starts.

Missed sessions and re-booking

First aid

If you can't attend your practical session, tell us before it starts and we'll treat it as a transfer. If you miss it without telling us, or arrive too late to join (see our Terms and Conditions), re-booking costs $25. If illness or an emergency stopped you attending or letting us know, see 'Compassionate circumstances'.

If you're assessed as not yet competent, we'll arrange another attempt with you. See 'Reassessment' under 'Other fees'.

Echocardiography

If you miss a session, contact us as soon as you can. Where we can, we'll help you catch up through the learning portal or a later session, at no cost. Missing sessions may affect whether you can complete your course or move on to the next stage, as the course page explains.

If we cancel or change your course

If we cancel or postpone a course, we'll tell you as soon as we can, and you choose:

• a full refund of all fees you've paid for that course, or
• a free transfer to another date or intake.

You have the same choice if we make a change that significantly affects you, such as a new start date or location. We won't increase the fee for a course after you've enrolled in it.

If we cancel your enrolment for a reason that isn't your fault, we refund the fees for the part of the course not yet delivered. If we cancel it because of your conduct, we work out any refund under 'Cancelling or withdrawing' as if you had withdrawn on the date of our decision. Our Terms and Conditions explain when we can cancel an enrolment.

Other fees

• Replacement certificate: free, whenever you need one.
• Reassessment (first aid): if you're assessed as not yet competent, your first two further attempts are free, and each attempt after that costs $25. Echocardiography courses charge no reassessment fee unless your written offer says so.
• Recognition of prior learning (RPL): RPL assesses skills and knowledge you already have, so you may not need to do the training. The RPL fee is in our RPL and Credit Transfer Policy, which also explains how to apply. Credit transfer, where you get credit for a unit you've already completed with another registered training organisation, is free.
• Access to your records: free.

How to ask for a refund

1. Email admin@scopeinstitute.edu.au with your name, your course and its date, and why you're asking. If you're asking on compassionate grounds, include any supporting documents.
2. We confirm in writing whether a refund is due, how much it is and how we worked it out.
3. We pay approved refunds within 10 business days of approval, to the person or organisation that paid the fee.

Your rights under the Australian Consumer Law

Our courses come with guarantees under the Australian Consumer Law. We must provide them with due care and skill, they must be reasonably fit for any purpose you told us about, and we must deliver them within a reasonable time. These rights are in addition to the rules in this policy.

If there's a major failure, you can cancel and get a refund for the part of the course you haven't used, or compensation for its reduced value. A failure is major if, for example, a reasonable person who knew about the problem wouldn't have enrolled. You can also claim compensation for other loss or damage that was reasonably foreseeable.

If the failure isn't major, we must fix it within a reasonable time. If we don't, you can cancel and get a refund for the part you haven't used.

Financial hardship and payment difficulties

If you're having trouble paying, contact the Student Support team as early as you can. We'll keep what you tell us confidential. We may be able to change your payment dates, and we'll consider your situation with care. If hardship means you need to stop studying, see 'Compassionate circumstances'.

Questions and disputes

If you have a question about a fee, or disagree with a refund decision, contact the Student Support team on 1300 508 809 or at admin@scopeinstitute.edu.au. If we can't resolve it, you can make a complaint or appeal the decision under our Complaints and Appeals Policy. That policy explains the process, the timeframes and the outside bodies you can contact, such as Consumer Affairs Victoria.