Youth Allowance

Youth Allowance can assist you if you are a young person who is studying, undertaking training or an Australian Apprenticeship, looking for work, or sick. For more information on eligibility and other criteria please refer to Centrelink’s Youth Allowance site: http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/youth_allow.htm
With the constant changes affecting the eligibility criteria and financial levels of the Youth Allowance system, CEFA have put together a summary page for rural students which will be regularly updated to reflect changes and new initiatives.

Youth Allowance

Independence

If you apply for Youth Allowance, you will be assessed as either being dependent or independent.
You may be considered independent if:

  • you are aged 22 or over and a full-time student or Australian Apprentice, or
  • you are or have been legally married, in a registered relationship or living in a de facto relationship with another person as a member of a couple, or
  • you have, or have had a dependent child, or
  • you have supported yourself through employment, or
  • you have a partial capacity to work as determined by a Job Capacity Assessment, (jobseekers only) or
  • you have parents who cannot exercise their responsibilities, or
  • you are unable to live at home due to extreme family breakdown, violence in the home, or serious threats to your health or well-being, or
  • you are a refugee without parents living in Australia, or
  • you are an orphan and have not been legally adopted, or
  • you are in State care, or only stopped being in State care because of your age.

Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote

From 1 January 2012, students from areas classified as Inner Regional, Outer Regional, Remote and Very Remote can be assessed as independent if, since leaving secondary school, they have:

  • earned at least 75 per cent of Wage Level A of the National Training Wage Schedule included in a modern award, in an 18-month period since leaving secondary school, or
  • worked part-time (at least 15 hours each week) for at least 2 years since leaving secondary school.

To be assessed as independent under these arrangements, you must be a full-time student and need to move away from home to study because your parents’ home is in an area considered to be inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote.
It is also a requirement that your parents earned less than $150,000 in the base tax year (for example, in May 2012, the base tax year is the year ending 30 June 2011) or the current tax year if their income has changed substantially.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics determines whether an area is considered to be inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote. Find out which area your family home is in using the Student Regional Area Search service.

Independence through working full-time

You may be considered independent if you have supported yourself through full-time paid employment for at least 18 months within a period of two years. Full-time employment means that you have worked an average of 30 hours per week throughout the 18 months.

The hours that you work each week can be averaged over periods of no more than 13 weeks (for example, you will meet the independence criterion if you have worked at least 390 hours in each of six periods of 13 weeks).
You must be working full-time for a total of at least 18 months. You cannot meet this requirement within a period of 12 months.

Parental Means Test

The parental means test is used to work out if parents can financially help their dependent children, whether they are a student, Australian Apprentice or a job seeker.

There are 3 parts to the parental means test:

The Family Assets Test takes into account personal, business and farm assets. A 75% discount is applied to business and farm assets. No payment can be made if your family's assets exceed $598,000.

The Parental Income Test includes combined parental taxable income, child support, any fringe benefits received from employers, income from outside Australia and net passive business losses.

The Family Actual Means Test may apply if your parents or guardians are self-employed, have income or assets outside Australia, have claimed a business loss, have interests in a trust or company, or are business migrants.

Reporting changes to sibling circumstances

The new Parental Income Test takes into account the number and circumstances of any other dependent children in your family who receive Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY. If your brother’s or sister’s circumstances change you may also notice changes in your fortnightly payment rate.

Student Start-Up Scholarship – Effective from 2012

If you are a full-time student undertaking an approved scholarship course at a higher education institution and are receiving Youth Allowance, Austudy or ABSTUDY Living Allowance, you will receive the Student Start-up Scholarship. You'll receive this scholarship at the beginning of each traditional tertiary semester to help with the up-front costs of studying, such as textbooks and specialised equipment. If you're eligible you'll receive the full amount of the Start-up Scholarship, even if you're not on the maximum payment rate from Centrelink. The Start-up Scholarship will be reduced in 2012. It will then be indexed by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), starting from 1 January 2013.

In 2012, the Student Start-up Scholarship will be $1,025 for each 6 months of eligible study (a total of $2,050 in 2012). This amount will be indexed each year.

Relocation Scholarship – Effective from 2012

The Relocation Scholarship is an annual payment for eligible Youth Allowance and ABSTUDY Living Allowance students who have to live away from the family home to study. You'll receive this scholarship at the beginning of the academic year to help with the costs of living away from home. If you're eligible, you will now receive a larger amount of the Relocation Scholarship for your first year of study, with subsequent years being at a lower rate, even if you're not on the maximum payment rate from Centrelink.

From 1 January 2012 the amount of Relocation Scholarship a student can receive each year will depend on:

  • whether their family home is in an area classified as Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia or Very Remote Australia, and
  • what year of study they are undertaking

In 2012, the Relocation Scholarship for students whose family home is in an area classified as Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia or Very Remote Australia will be:

  • $4,000 if it is the first year required to live away from home to undertake full-time study in an approved scholarship course
  • $2,000 if it is the second or third year
  • $1,000 if it is the fourth year or subsequent year

In 2012, the Relocation Scholarship for students whose family home is in an area that is not classified as Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote Australia or Very Remote Australia will be:

  • $4,000 if it is the first year required to live away from home to undertake full-time study in an approved scholarship course
  • $1,000 in any subsequent years

Each of these amounts will be indexed by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 1 January each year, starting from 1 January 2013.

Students can find out which area their family home is in by using the Student Regional Area Search service.

* Please continue to refer to this page for further updates as they come to hand *

Useful Links

http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/individuals/change_independence.htm
http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Programs/YouthAllowance/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Programs/YouthAllowance/Pages/QandAs.aspx
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/contact_us/index.htm

Questions?