Ask for a written scope statement that identifies the exact services included in the fees, the fees the applicant will pay, and which services, if any, are excluded. Study Australia says written agent agreements should specify the exact services included in the fees and the fees payable; the cited recommendation does not supply a standard exclusion list.
Ask for a precise written scope
A useful request is:
Please list the exact services included in the fees, the fees payable, and which services, if any, are excluded. Please flag any wording that could be interpreted in more than one way.
The inclusion and fee requests reflect the cited guidance. The exclusion request is a practical follow-up: a list of included services does not, by itself, show what falls outside the arrangement. It gives the applicant a way to ask about the boundary without treating a general description as a complete scope.
How to check the response
- Compare it with the written agreement. The cited guidance points to written agreements, so check whether the scope and fees appear in the document rather than only in a conversation.
- Check each service separately. Ask whether a service is clearly included, clearly excluded, or still ambiguous. This is a clarity check, not a claim that every agreement must use one format.
- Connect the scope to the fees. Ask which services the stated fees cover. If the document does not make that connection clear, request clarification.
- Keep the written record. Retain the version that records the scope and fee wording, and ask for any later clarification to be added in writing.
What the reader must still confirm
The cited points identify topics that a written agreement should specify; they do not determine what an individual agreement includes. The reader still needs to confirm:
- whether each relevant service is clearly included;
- which services are clearly excluded;
- what the fee wording says the applicant will pay and which services it concerns; and
- whether any remaining ambiguity has been explained in writing.