Funds can be genuine - but genuine access to them is a harder question to answer. 

International education is one of Australia’s great success stories.

It contributes around $51 billion a year to our economy, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs and has established Australia as one of the world’s most attractive destinations for people seeking a high-quality education.

It is also a sector under enormous pressure. The government is working to strengthen the integrity of the student visa system. Universities are dealing with changing enrolment patterns and increasing scrutiny. Students face higher living costs. Education providers are trying to protect Australia’s international reputation while navigating a regulatory environment that has become significantly more demanding.

One issue deserves more attention: what happens to a student’s financial capacity after they arrive in Australia?

Before an international student receives a visa, they must demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to support themselves. That includes tuition and travel costs, as well as access to almost $30,000 a year for living expenses.

Importantly, the requirement is not simply to demonstrate that the money exists. Students must demonstrate that they have genuine access to those funds.

That is a sensible requirement. But genuine access at the point of a visa application does not necessarily tell us what happens six months later, when a student is in Australia and needs to pay rent, tuition fees and everyday living expenses.

Once the student arrives, there is no standardised process to verify that the financial resources demonstrated during the visa process remain accessible throughout their studies.

That is the issue I believe Australia now needs to address.

Around 300,000 international students are expected to arrive in Australia this year. Based on the living expenses they are required to demonstrate, this represents almost $9 billion in declared financial capacity.

We spend considerable effort establishing that students have access to these financial resources before a visa is granted. We should be equally interested in whether those resources remain available to support them once they are here.

This is ultimately about students

I became interested in this problem because the consequences are very real.

For many international students, demonstrating financial capacity is necessarily part of securing a visa. But demonstrating that the funds exist is different from ensuring those funds actually follow the student to Australia and remain available throughout their studies.

The money may genuinely exist within the family, but not all of it will necessarily be transferred to Australia or made available to the student when it is needed. The current system has very limited visibility over what happens after the initial financial requirement has been satisfied.

That matters because the cost of living does not disappear once the visa is granted. Rent still needs to be paid. Food needs to be bought. Transport, textbooks, utilities and everyday expenses continue throughout a student’s time in Australia.

When the financial resources available to a student do not match the financial capacity established during the visa process, that can very quickly become a student welfare problem.

Students under serious financial pressure have limited choices. Some work more hours than allowed under the visa rules. Some seek help from family. Some move accommodation. Some transfer to cheaper education providers. Some struggle to continue their studies at all.   

More than one in five international students transfers from their original education provider within their first year, often moving to lower-cost providers.

There are obviously many reasons a student might transfer, and we should be careful not to attribute all of that movement to financial stress.

But we should also be realistic. Money matters. If Australia requires a student to demonstrate that they can financially support themselves before they come here, it makes sense to build a system that gives them a better chance of actually having that financial support available once they arrive.

That was the problem we set out to solve with MIST.

The idea is surprisingly simple

MIST started with a straightforward question. What if the financial capacity demonstrated during the visa process could extend to the student in Australia?

Our Proof of Funds Account allows verified living expenses to be held in Australia, in Australian dollars, in an account in the student’s name.

The funds remain the student’s money. They are then made progressively available throughout the student’s studies, helping ensure the money they demonstrated was available to support them is actually there when they need it.

Around that account, we have built technology covering document verification, fraud detection, source-of-funds validation and serviceability assessments. But the technology is not really the point. The outcome is.

The student has greater certainty that the money intended to support their education remains available. The university has greater confidence that the student is financially equipped to continue studying. The government has greater confidence that the financial capacity established during the visa process does not simply disappear from view once the student clears immigration.

Importantly, this should not become another obstacle for genuine international students. Australia does not need additional bureaucracy for its own sake. We need better infrastructure.

Universities have a major stake in solving this

Student financial wellbeing is also a university sustainability issue. Universities invest significant resources recruiting, admitting and supporting international students. When a student experiences financial distress, changes provider or leaves their course, there are consequences for both the student and the institution.

That is why I believe financial capacity should increasingly be considered across the student lifecycle rather than as a single compliance exercise conducted before somebody boards an aircraft. We are already seeing interest in that approach.

La Trobe University has adopted MIST as part of its Genuine Student process in selected international markets, initially incorporating the platform into offer letters across Kenya and Zimbabwe, with expansion into South Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

We have also seen support within the international education sector for stronger verification of students’ genuine access to funds.

This is no longer simply a visa-processing question. It is becoming part of a broader discussion about how Australia builds a more sustainable international education system.

Australia should be careful about the message it sends

There is a danger in the current debate that international students become discussed primarily as a number to be increased or reduced. They are much more important than that.

International students contribute enormously to Australia economically, academically, socially and culturally. They choose Australia in a highly competitive global market, and when they come here, we make commitments to them too.

We should therefore be asking how we can improve the system without making Australia less welcoming, less competitive or unnecessarily difficult to navigate.

Stronger integrity and a better student experience can reinforce each other.

A student who has genuinely demonstrated the capacity to study in Australia should have a system that helps ensure those resources remain available to them. A university should have confidence that the financial foundations supporting a student’s enrolment are sound.

And government should have confidence that the rules it establishes at the beginning of the process continue to mean something after the student arrives.

The next opportunity is infrastructure

I believe international education is entering a new phase. The first generation of education technology helped students find courses, apply to universities and navigate admissions.

The next generation will increasingly deal with the infrastructure that surrounds the student journey: payments, identity, fraud prevention, financial verification, compliance, student wellbeing and retention.

These may sound less exciting than the latest consumer app, but they address some of the biggest structural challenges facing international education.

That is where I believe companies such as MIST can make a meaningful contribution. We recently secured $3.5 million in investment from DoxAI and Assetora to continue developing our platform and financial products for international education.

For me, that investment represents something larger than backing for one company. It reflects a growing recognition that one of Australia’s largest export industries needs financial infrastructure designed specifically for how it operates.

Australia has already done a great deal to strengthen the front end of the international student system. We should build on it. If we ask students to demonstrate that they have the financial capacity to live and study here, we should care whether that financial capacity remains available after they arrive.

If universities are expected to take greater responsibility for student outcomes, we should equip them with better tools to assess financial risk.

And if government wants a student visa system with genuine integrity, that integrity should extend beyond the airport arrivals hall.

International education is worth around $51 billion a year to Australia. More importantly, hundreds of thousands of students place enormous trust in Australia when they choose to study here.

Building a system that helps ensure they have the financial resources to succeed is good for students, good for universities and good for the long-term reputation of Australian education.

It is also, quite simply, good policy.