Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund provides payments for eligible students to attend school camps, excursions, and sports and outdoor education programs.

About

Status: Open, closes 26 June 2026

Who can apply: Government, non-government schools

The department administers the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) to help eligible families with the costs of camps, sporting activities and excursions/incursions.

The Victorian Budget 2025-26 invests $152.3 million to significantly increase the funding available through CSEF.

From 1 January 2026, families eligible for CSEF will see an increase in support to $400 for primary and secondary school children, up from $154 and $256 respectively. Applications for 2026 CSEF support will open from 27 January 2026.

The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) provides payments for eligible students to attend activities like:

school camps/trips
swimming extension activities and other school-organised sport programs
outdoor education programs
excursions/incursions that are extracurricular as defined in the Parent Payments policy
graduations/valedictories.

Schools can receive applications from families for 2026 until 26 June 2026.

Schools must communicate to families the availability of the CSEF in their newsletters and must use the funds for the benefit of the eligible student.

Families can list more than one student in the one application form if they are attending the same school.

Key dates for submitting an application

CSEF payments for 2026

28 January to 26 June 2026

Guidelines

Open all

Who can apply

Eligibility

For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a registered Victorian school.

CSEF is not payable to a student attending pre-school, kindergarten, TAFE or who are home schooled.

Applications must be submitted to the school by 26 June 2026.

Where a school or family is unsure if the concession card is eligible, they are encouraged to submit the application into the CSEF system for validation.

Those that are eligible to apply for the CSEF must meet both of the following two criteria.

Criterion 1 – general eligibility

The applicant must be one of the following on the first student day of Term 1 (28 January 2026) or Term 2 (20 April 2026):

a parent or carer who is the beneficiary of a financially means-tested card
a student over 16 years who is considered a mature minor and holds a valid means tested concession card (such as a Youth Allowance Health Care Card). For guidance on assessing whether a student is a mature minor, refer to the department’s policy on Mature Minors and Decision Making
a parent or carer whose child is 16 or over and the beneficiary of a financially means tested card but are not considered a mature minor. Where the parent or carer is seeking eligibility based on an eligible financially means-tested card, eligibility will be determined when the relevant concession card successfully validates with Centrelink on either the first student day of Term 1 or Term 2.

For students over 16 years of age and where the eligible card is in the name of the student, the fund is only granted to that student, not their siblings.

Eligible means tested cards

Only financially means-tested cards are acceptable. Disability and Carer’s Cards are not means-tested and therefore not eligible for CSEF. For Veterans’ Affairs, Gold Cards are the only means-tested cards for this type. This card must be sighted, and a coloured photocopy taken by the school to confirm the expiry date and eligibility.

Cards that are not financially means-tested are not accepted.

Criterion 2 – be of school age and attend a Victorian school

For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a registered Victorian school.

CSEF is not payable to a student attending pre-school, kindergarten, TAFE or who are home-schooled.

Special consideration – category 1

The special consideration category aims to assist families who are not permanent residents and do not have access to Centrelink or have a means-tested Health Care Card, including:

Asylum seekers
Temporary Protection visa holders
Humanitarian or Safe Haven visa holders who are not permanent residents. Permanent residents or applicants with a Health Care Card should apply as a general application and not under special consideration.

Evidence required

An applicant’s VEVO status showing the applicant’s current residential status is required to apply for special consideration. If this is unavailable, then a supportive letter from ASRC, Red Cross or similar organisation confirming that the applicant has an eligible status can be attached.

Special consideration – category 2

Students in out-of-home care arrangements, including statutory kinship care, foster care and permanent care.

Evidence required

A letter of support from the institution facilitating the arrangement (for example, Mackillop Family Services or the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH)) is required as evidence and must be no more than 18 months old. Copies of court orders and Permanent Care Certificates are permitted to support special consideration applications.

Applications for special consideration can be made through the standard application form. Further information is available on the submitting an application page.

Schools are able to accept special consideration applications for those who enrol in Terms 3 and 4. For these applications, supporting documentation is required to be attached to the application form and a scanned copy emailed to csef@education.vic.gov.au for processing before the end of Term 4.

Payment amounts

Payments for 2026 are $400 per year for all eligible Victorian school students.

Payments are made directly to the school:

from March onwards each year where the parent/carer’s concession card is assessed as valid on the first student day of Term 1 and/or
where the parent/carer’s concession card is assessed as valid on the first student day of Term 2. Payments are for the application year and cannot be claimed for previous years.

Use of funds

Schools will need agreement with families before allocating CSEF funds and a credit will stay on the family account until the family advises the school how they want the funds allocated.

Year 7 and Prep students in government schools who are eligible for CSEF will receive financial help with the cost of school uniforms. For more information see Help with school costs and fees.

Families who have more than one child at the same school can combine (or pool) their CSEF to use on one child or for a specific activity (for example, a camp).

How to apply

Submitting an application

Applications can be entered from 19 January 2026. Parents/carers wishing to apply for CSEF payments for 2026 must submit their application form to the relevant school by 26 June 2026.

However, a parent/carer will only be required to submit an application form to the school in the following circumstances:

the parent/carer is applying for the CSEF payment for the first time – i.e. an application form was not lodged with the school in the previous year
the student has changed schools from the previous year
circumstances have changed – for example: there has been a change in the care arrangement of the student, a change of name or CRN, or a new sibling has started at the school and the parent/carer wishes to apply for the CSEF payment for the new sibling also. If a sibling has left the school, a new application is required
if any other details on the application changes such as the declaration. Where a parent/carer is not required to submit a new application, schools can rollover/copy the previous year’s application on the CSEF system to the current school year.

Schools must have a copy of the health care card for their records.

Schools must retain application forms for a minimum of seven years.

CSEF applications may be audited by the department.

Application forms

Schools can accept and process applications until 26 June 2026.

If there’s shared custody

The CSEF system only allows one application per student. Parents/carers with shared custody (who both hold a concession card) must decide beforehand who applies for the CSEF at the school on behalf of the relevant student.

The CSEF is for the benefit of the parent who receives the CSEF.

Schools are not required to arbitrate this decision.

Schools can contact the department’s CSEF helpdesk for advice on 1800 060 970 (select Option 2 for CSEF enquiries) or email csef@education.vic.gov.au.

If you have already paid for some activities

Given the timing of the CSEF payments to schools in term one, it is recognised that some families may have already paid up-front for this year’s camps, sports or excursion expenses.

In this scenario, the following options exist for schools to allocate the payment towards camps, sports and/or excursion expenses for the benefit of the eligible student.

In addition to allocating the payment towards remaining camps, sports and excursion expenses in that year:

parents can carry over the unused amount to be used on eligible activities in the following year
schools can create a ‘family credit’ for the costs already paid. The credit can then be used towards other school expenses
where a family credit is created, the school and family can agree for the credit to be applied to other expenses for the student. The school will need to be able to demonstrate via the family account statement that the CSEF payment was utilised towards camps, sports and excursion expenses for the benefit of the eligible student. It is up to the school whether they agree to this option
CSEF funds cannot be directly refunded to families. Note: This credit note will stay on the family account until the family advises the school what they want this to be allocated to.

For any additional assistance or variation to this scenario please log a call with the DE Service Desk on 1800 641 943.

Students changing schools

The school that the student is enrolled at and attending on the 27 February census date is the school that must process and receive the CSEF payment.

If a student transfers to another Victorian school, including where a student is transitioning to secondary school:

unspent CSEF amounts should be transferred to the student’s new school
if the unspent amount is minimal, the schools may agree that the funds are not transferred as long as the new school commits to providing the student with assistance to the value of the unspent amount.

Students completing year 12 or leaving the Victorian school system

For students completing year 12 or otherwise leaving the Victorian school system:

schools may allocate unspent funds to the student’s siblings attending the same school once the student leaves school. This is the only time at which CSEF payments can be used for siblings
remaining CSEF funds will stay with the school and may be used to assist any students in need with school-incurred costs for camps, sports activities and excursions.

Updated 29 January 2026

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Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund

About

Key dates for submitting an application

CSEF payments for 2026

Guidelines

Eligibility

Criterion 1 – general eligibility

Eligible means tested cards

Criterion 2 – be of school age and attend a Victorian school

Special consideration – category 1

Evidence required

Special consideration – category 2

Evidence required

Submitting an application

Application forms

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