What to Do When You Receive a VTAC Offer

Universities and TAFEs select applicants. VTAC sends you one offer per round, from the highest preference that selects you.

The university or TAFE contacts you separately, usually within two business days, with how to enrol and the deadline for doing it. If those instructions don't arrive, you can contact the institution, not VTAC, to ask for them. The offer also depends on you meeting the course's eligibility requirements, having given full and correct information in your VTAC application and enrolling when the offer says to, and it can be withdrawn if one of those falls through.

Accepting an offer means enrolling in the course. You do that through the institution's own portal, following the instructions in its email, because your VTAC account can't accept offers. Enrolment deadlines are usually only a short time after the offer, and some institutions ask you to enrol in person at a set date and time, so reading the instructions on the day they arrive gives you time to sort out anything you need.

VTAC recommends accepting any offer you receive, even when you're hoping for a course higher on your list, because an offer usually expires before the next round's offers come out. Accepting gives you a course to fall back on, and it doesn't take you out of the running for the courses above it.

You might also find yourself keener on a course further down your list, or on one you never listed. Once you've had an offer, you can't delete the offered course, but you can move it, reorder the others and add new ones, so moving another course above your offer lets VTAC consider it next round.

VTAC asks that you move the offered course only below courses you would genuinely take, rather than to the bottom of the list. Before you add a course, you can check its prerequisites and any extra selection requirements, such as an interview or folio, on its CourseSearch page. If there's a requirement you haven't completed, the institution may let you complete it before the next round, so it's worth asking them.

You can use the up and down arrows to move a course rather than deleting it and adding it back. Some courses close to new applications early, and once deleted they can't be added again. You'll find your list in your VTAC account under Edit courses, then Update course preferences, and your changes are saved when you select Save and exit. Changing your list is free, as often as you like while a window is open.

Offers for courses starting in 2027 come out in rounds from December to February, with a short window after each, called change of preference, for editing your list.

After each round, your VTAC account also marks any course on your list that has said it won't make further offers.

If you're reading this before 23 December, our guide to VCE results day covers how to use the window before offers.

Letting an offer expire

You don't need to do anything to turn down an offer. VTAC's advice is to ignore it, and the offer expires and the place goes to someone else. An expired offer can't be accepted later.

Turning an offer down doesn't count against you for other courses in later rounds. The offered course stays on your list, though, so a course you still want below it needs moving above it in the next window.

Deferring for a gap year

Deferring means keeping your place and starting the course later. Some courses let you defer for 6 or 12 months, and others don't allow it. VTAC isn't involved: you check the course's deferment rules on the institution's website and follow its steps. You can save the agreement and tell the institution if you decide not to take up the place, so it can go to someone else.

Getting no email on 23 December can be hard, and VTAC's own advice is not to panic. You're reconsidered for every course on your list in each later round, and you can also use the windows to add courses and reorder them. That can include pathway courses, which many institutions offer as another way into the course you want.

To find out why a course didn't make you an offer, you can contact the institution, which can also tell you about its pathways. Reasons VTAC lists include a selection rank (your ATAR plus any adjustments) below what the course needed, a missing prerequisite or a selection task that wasn't completed.

The December offer is one round of several. You can change your list in the next window if your plans change. As VTAC reminds applicants, there are many ways to reach your study and career goals.

What happens to my early conditional offer?

Some universities and colleges make early offers during Year 12, through programs you apply to directly. These offers are conditional, which means they aren't official yet. They come with conditions such as a minimum ATAR, a certain study score in English or finishing Year 12.

If you meet the conditions, you receive an official offer in one of the VTAC rounds, as long as the course is on your VTAC preference list. Because VTAC sends only your highest offer each round, a course you've listed above the early-offer course can make you the offer instead. If you're not sure you met a condition, you can ask the institution that made the early offer.

Can I receive an offer for a course I didn't list?

You may also receive a supplementary offer. After February round 1, courses that still have places can make offers for courses that weren't on your list, to domestic applicants who haven't had an offer from theirs. You need to have given VTAC permission to pass your application on. You can check your permission in your VTAC account under My profile, then Manage permissions, then Supplementary Offers under the Offers heading.

Why did my friend get their offer email before me?

VTAC sends offer emails throughout the morning, staggered because of how many go out, so a later email says nothing about your offer. Your offer also appears under Course offers in your VTAC account.

What if I can't get to enrolment?

You can ask the institution early. Some allow an authorised nominee, someone you choose, to enrol on your behalf, and the institution can tell you what other arrangements it has.

My offer expired before I enrolled. Can I get it back?

You can contact the institution that made the offer now. VTAC doesn't run enrolment, so only the institution can tell you whether anything can be done.

What if I get two supplementary offers at once?

You can choose one to accept; VTAC asks applicants not to accept more than one offer.

Someone phoned to offer me a place. Is that a real offer?

No. A verbal offer has no status. You can ask who called and contact VTAC immediately.

We checked these official sources on 6 November 2026.