The move, which winds back one of Australia's most generous school fee exemption schemes for international students, reflects a growing trend for state governments to plug budget holes by slugging overseas students.
From next year, tuition fee exemptions in Queensland will be limited to the children of students studying for doctorates or on AusAID or defence scholarships.
The state Department of Education and Training has implemented "minor changes" this year under which fees will be charged for the children of students from countries whose governments sponsor the education and living costs of scholarship holders and their dependants.
The students affected by these immediate changes face tuition fees ranging from $8720 to $10,120 a year, plus administrative fees of up to $210 a child, all payable in advance.
The students would have had little or no notice of the new charges. The department made only limited communications with the affected governments, and none with the students themselves, apart from posting the new arrangements on its website.
In a statement, DET said it would have been "unrealistic" to advise all governments or agencies individually because of the separate provisions of the different scholarship schemes.
Assistant director-general Ian Hawke said "liaison has taken place" with the embassies and contacts of "those governments with whom our office deals regarding enrolled students".
Mr Hawke would not name all the countries affected by the changes, but cited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Libya and the United Arab Emirates as examples.
Queensland has more than 1700 higher education enrolments from these countries, according to the latest Australian education international data, with the vast majority on scholarships.
Mr Hawke said the department had studied scholarship letters and websites and contacted embassies before determining that these countries sponsored the education costs of scholarship holders' dependent children.
A review last year had decided it was not necessary to maintain the fee exemption for these students, he said. "Advice regarding our exemptions is best dealt with through individual universities' admissions officers."
The University of Queensland was advised of the new arrangements in a letter dated November 30, about a month after second semester classes ended. UQ has battled since then to find details of the new non-exemption policy, and to contact the affected students and stakeholders.
Deputy vice-chancellor (international) Anna Ciccarelli said changes of this nature could disadvantage Queensland in the escalating competition for overseas students and workers, but the problem was not unique to Queensland, and reflected a "disconnect" that had turned state-level international education policy settings into a "budget football".
The changes follow the DET's backflip last month on a plan to charge international students full fees for the compulsory introductory year of their children's schooling, unless they delayed enrolment for about 18 months.
That plan was shelved following pressure from the three Brisbane-based universities.
"We understand the department's position -- they're facing increased costs and demand, and may have been subsidising this scheme from their declining tuition income from international students," Dr Ciccarelli said.
"We've never seen the solution as being the department's budget. Schemes such as this need to be underwritten by Treasury."
The scheme was introduced in 2001 by Anna Bligh when she was education minister.
It covered the dependants of all international postgraduate research students and those on Queensland university or full overseas government scholarships.
While similar exemption or discount schemes exist in other states, Queensland's was more generous than most.
As Premier, Ms Bligh has championed the international education industry and pushed for supportive national policies at a Council of Australian Governments meeting in August.
Key Queensland departments have taken the opposite tack, with a major Brisbane women's hospital recently barring international students from non-emergency obstetrics services.
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