College fees

Annual Fellowship subscriptions – overview and important dates

• Subscription period: 1 January – 31 December annually
• Subscription invoices issued: mid–late November in the year prior
• Annual subscription due date: 15 January of the subscription year

To maintain your Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), your RACS annual subscription fees must be paid in full by the due date or you must have paid the first instalment if you’re paying by quarterly instalments.

This ensures:

• continued use of the FRACS post-nominal,
• automatic enrolment in an accredited CPD program (and CPD Home for Australian Fellows),
• access to a wide range of member benefits.

2026 subscription rates

The RACS Fellowship subscription fees (PDF 168.1KB) will remain unchanged in 2026, continuing the 0% increase applied in 2025.

Late fees

Overdue subscription fee payments will be subject to a late administration fee of 3%.

For more information, please refer to RACS Late Administration Fee Policy.

Subscription changes and special circumstances

If your work circumstances have changed, you may qualify for a change in subscription category.

We have a range of subscription categories to meet the diverse needs of our members.

If your situation isn’t reflected in the available categories, or you're experiencing financial hardship, please contact the Fellowship Invoicing team via [email protected] – we’re here to help.

How to pay

Pay in full, or elect to pay by instalments (a 3.5% instalment surcharge applies).

Invoices are issued via email, and can be paid via credit card, PayPal, BPAY or EFT.

We’ve introduced a streamlined fees management system to make payment easier.

Learn more about how to pay.

Where your fees go

Curious about how your fees are used? The spend breakdown shows 76 per cent of Fellowship subscription fees go towards the provision of core membership benefits.

Click on the image to expand and download.

Need help?

Subscription queries

E: [email protected]
T: +61 3 9276 7439

General Fellowship queries

E: [email protected]
T: +61 3 9249 1290

The surgical education and training (SET) fee is charged annually to RACS surgical Trainees. It consists of two components: 

1. The RACS SET fee: This is charged at the same rate to Trainees of all specialties (although weighting will be applied to those on part time or interrupted training). It funds RACS’ training accreditation, legal, compliance and regulatory requirements as well as education-related activities and resources and includes RACS membership and the Wellbeing Support Program. Find out more about the benefits we offer to Trainees. 
2. The specialty SET fee: This funds the delivery of each specialty training program. The rate is set by the specialty training boards/committees and will differ depending on which of RACS’ nine surgical specialties a Trainee is pursuing and which country they are training in (Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand). 

View the breakdown of SET fees by specialty (PDF 170.52KB) in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and how they have evolved since 2020.

Great news! For Surgical Trainees in Aotearoa New Zealand employed by Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand, for 2026 training fees onwards RACS will invoice Te Whatu Ora directly for your training fees unless you advise us otherwise.

Read our FAQs for more information.

Are you a Trainee who is not in clinical training in 2025? You will still be invoiced an administration fee by RACS and, in some cases, your specialty. This is to maintain your place on the SET program and keep you up to date by providing continued access to online resources such as the RACS Library, logbooks and, for Australian Trainees, CPD.  

Interested to know how we spend the RACS component of your SET fees? The spend breakdown (JPG 226.37KB) shows 88 per cent of the RACS component of SET fees goes towards the provision of core Trainee benefits.

Click the image to expand and download.

What your fees cover

RACS is not-for-profit, meaning your fees are reinvested into education, training and support. They give you access to a wide range of early-career support and resources that help you navigate this pivotal stage of your career.

The RACS component of your fees covers:

• Trainee services – RACSTA, Library, eLearning, wellbeing support.
  Specialty support – flow payments to your specialty society or association to help cover its costs. This equates to around $1.5 million a year.
• Standards and accreditation – hospital accreditation, electronic logbooks and training systems, AMC/MCNZ compliance, quality assurance and continuous improvement.
• Advocacy and support – policies, appeals, reconsiderations, representation.
• Governance and administration – strategic leadership and oversight. It costs RACS more than $1 million a year to ensure surgical training is coordinated, compliant, insured and strategically focused.

SET fees for 2026

As part of our commitment to support you, we’re pleased to share that the RACS component of your training fee for 2026 has been reduced by 5%.

This reduction builds on the 0% increase applied to the RACS component in 2025 and the lower instalment surcharge introduced last year.

In 2026, we’re also piloting new delivery models in areas like our skills courses to improve access and efficiency, ensuring fees remain fair in the years ahead.

SET fees for 2025

See the full 2026 fee list (PDF 168.1KB)for pricing of other College activities including assessment, professional development and events.

What is happening?
From December 2025, Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand is implementing a centralised process for payment of Resident Medical Officer (RMO) training expenses directly to providers, including RACS.  This follows ongoing work across the sector, including dedicated advocacy from RACS, to make training easier to navigate and reduce administrative and financial burdens on Trainees.

What does this mean for RACS Trainees?
If you are in clinical training and employed by Te Whatu Ora, you will no longer receive an invoice from RACS for your annual training fee, which you would then need to pay and submit to your Te Whatu Ora for reimbursement. Instead, RACS will invoice Te Whatu Ora directly for your training fees.
This arrangement does not extend to Trainees who are not in clinical training but still incur an administration fee. RACS will continue to invoice you directly for the administration fee.

When is this being introduced?
This change comes into effect ahead of RACS issuing 2026 surgical training fees. For eligible Trainees, that means you will no longer receive invoices from RACS for your training fees.

What fees are covered?
Both components of your training fee (the RACS component and the specialty component) are covered by this arrangement. 
For most specialties, RACS will invoice Te Whatu Ora directly for both fee components. For Orthopaedic Trainees, RACS will invoice Te Whatu Ora for the RACS component and the New Zealand Orthopaedic Association (NZOA) will invoice Te Whatu Ora for the specialty component.

Can a Trainee opt out of this arrangement?
Yes, if a Trainee wishes to continue paying their College fees directly, they simply need to advise RACS and their RMO unit.
IMPORTANT: Since RACS will be sending out 2026 training fee invoices in early December, please let us know that you wish to opt out of the bulk billing arrangement by 14 December 2025 (this date has been extended for 2026 invoicing due to this being a new process). Contact us at [email protected].

What do you need to do
If you want to opt out of the bulk billing arrangement, please see Can a Trainee opt out of this arrangement? 
If you’re happy for Te Whatu Ora to pay your training fees directly on your behalf, you don’t need to do anything. However, it is worth checking your details, including your MCNZ number, are correct and up-to-date in our system. Note: You’ll need to sign in using your RACS username and password.

Talk to us
If you have any questions about your surgical education and training fee, or wish to arrange to pay directly after the above deadline, we’re here to help. Contact us at [email protected].