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The cheapest universities in Melbourne for international students

Melbourne runs a close second to Sydney on cost, with the same pattern: rent is the swing factor and tuition varies widely by university. The city has more universities within commuting distance than anywhere else in the country, which widens the cheaper end of this list. Like Sydney, metropolitan Melbourne is not a regional area for skilled migration.

Melbourne has universities across the full price range, and where you study inside the city matters less for cost than which institution and course you pick. This list ranks the Melbourne universities by estimated first-year budget, cheapest first.

The budget figure is the cheapest international tuition on record for each university plus our Melbourne living-cost estimate plus a rough setup allowance. Tuition varies a lot by course, so treat the order as a guide and check your specific program.

The biggest international student market has upsides and a trade-off

Melbourne has been ranked Australia's top student city by QS every year since 2015, and placed fifth globally in the 2026 QS Best Student Cities index, with roughly 230,000 international students across its ten universities. That scale means a genuinely large student support ecosystem (dedicated student-housing stock, an established international-student services sector, a large peer network from almost every country) but also the most competition for the cheapest share housing and entry-level part-time jobs, both of which get harder to find the later in the enrolment cycle you arrive.

Booking accommodation and lining up part-time work before you land, rather than after, matters more in Melbourne than in a smaller city precisely because of that scale: the cheap options exist, but they don't sit unclaimed for long.

  1. Melbourne Polytechnic

    A$54,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$19,000 a year.

  2. Victoria University Polytechnic

    A$54,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$19,000 a year.

  3. Box Hill Institute

    A$55,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$20,000 a year.

  4. University of Divinity

    A$55,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$20,000 a year.

  5. Holmes Institute

    A$57,000 first-year budgetMulti-campus (Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast). Tuition from A$25,000 a year.

  6. William Angliss Institute

    A$57,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$22,000 a year.

  7. Kaplan Business School

    A$58,000 first-year budgetMulti-campus (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane). Tuition from A$26,000 a year.

  8. Melbourne Institute of Technology

    A$60,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$25,000 a year.

  9. Victoria University

    A$63,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$28,000 a year.

  10. Deakin University

    A$71,000 first-year budgetMelbourne/Geelong, VIC. Tuition from A$36,000 a year.

  11. La Trobe University

    A$71,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$36,000 a year.

  12. Swinburne University of Technology

    A$71,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$36,000 a year.

  13. RMIT University

    A$75,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$40,000 a year.

  14. Monash University

    A$82,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$47,000 a year.

  15. University of Melbourne

    A$83,000 first-year budgetMelbourne, VIC. Tuition from A$47,968 a year.

Myki caps and the tram-heavy inner city

Melbourne's Myki system caps daily and weekly fares, and the free tram zone covers most of the CBD, which helps if your campus and part-time job both sit inside it. Once you're outside that zone the cost adds up like any other city's transit, so factor your actual commute (not just the CBD free-zone marketing) into the budget figure above.

Inner-north and inner-west suburbs near RMIT, Melbourne, and Victoria University's city campuses tend to have the most share-house stock aimed at students, which is often the more realistic cost lever than the university's own tuition figure once you account for where you'll actually be able to find a room.

How this list was built

We took every published university with a campus in Melbourne, used its lowest international tuition (university-wide or its cheapest program), added the Melbourne living-cost estimate and about AUD 4,000 in setup costs, and sorted low to high.

Frequently asked questions

Why is Melbourne ranked the best student city in Australia?

QS's Best Student Cities index scores factors including student mix, affordability relative to income, employability, and how students themselves rate the city, and Melbourne has topped Australia's ranking every year since 2015. That's a reputation and lifestyle signal, not a guarantee of low cost: it's still one of the more expensive cities on this list once rent is factored in.

Is it hard to find a part-time job as an international student in Melbourne?

It's competitive precisely because Melbourne has the largest international student population of any Australian city, which means more people chasing the same entry-level hospitality and retail roles. Starting the search before semester begins, rather than after classes start, meaningfully improves your odds.

Is metropolitan Melbourne a regional area for skilled migration?

No. Metropolitan Melbourne sits outside the Department of Home Affairs' regional boundaries, the same as Sydney, so it doesn't carry the regional points or 491 nomination access that Perth, Adelaide, and Canberra offer.

Does Victoria have any regional areas near Melbourne worth considering?

Yes. Cities like Geelong, which several Melbourne-area universities also have campuses in, sit outside the metropolitan exclusion and carry regional status, so a Geelong-based program can combine Melbourne-adjacent access with a genuine regional-migration benefit metropolitan Melbourne itself doesn't offer.

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