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Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

ABSTUDY

Introduction

ABSTUDY provides income support and supplementary educational assistance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. It covers 18 different types of allowances each subject to their own conditions of eligibility. Many of them are income tested. From 1 January 2000, the income, assets and actual means tests applying to the Youth Allowance will apply to ABSTUDY applicants for income-tested benefits. The most important type of allowance is the ABSTUDY Living Allowance. The ABSTUDY 1999 Information Book, at pages 36-40, contains 7 tables that can help a student calculate the ABSTUDY Living Allowance for 1999.

The following information is a summary of the Centrelink ABSTUDY 1999 Information Book. For more details refer to the Information Book.

General conditions of eligibility

To get ABSTUDY there are three main conditions a student must meet.

Aboriginality

An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is someone who is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, identifies as an Australian Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and is accepted as such by the community in which he/she lives or has lived.

Studying an approved course

The student must be enrolled in and studying an approved course at an approved institution. Most courses in schools, colleges, TAFEs and universities are approved for ABSTUDY. Private (non-government) education providers are often approved where the course leads to a recognised qualification and the institution is an accredited education provider.

Not receiving any other government assistance to study

The student cannot receive any other government assistance to study while he/she receives ABSTUDY unless he/she is a pensioner. There are exceptions for some scholarships.

What kind of student?

Primary and secondary students at home

A primary school student must be 14 years or over at 1 January 1999 and live at home to receive ABSTUDY. There are no age limits on secondary students.

Some primary and secondary students living at home may be eligible for one or more of the following allowances.

Secondary boarding students

Secondary Boarding Students may be eligible for one or more of the following allowances.

An under 16 boarding supplement is payable to institutions with a minimum of 10% Indigenous students eligible for the away rate of living allowance at the ABSTUDY census dates.

Students in State care

The rate of Living Allowance paid if the student is in State care and have reached the minimum school leaving age is

If no Foster Care Allowance is paid and the student is living in private rental accommodation he/she may be eligible for Rent Assistance.

TAFE and university students

The ABSTUDY entitlements and the rules applied to a TAFE or university student will vary depending on whether the student is studying a course which is classified as secondary or tertiary. A TAFE or university student may be eligible for one or more of the following allowances.

ABSTUDY is available to eligible students undertaking undergraduate study or higher degrees.

Dependent or independent?

In many cases it is important to determine whether the student is to be considered independent or dependent. A student is considered independent and may receive the independent rate of Living Allowance if he/she

In addition to these criteria a student may be considered independent on a reviewable basis is he/she

If the provisions for independent status do not apply a student is considered dependent. A dependent student may be eligible for the away rate of Living Allowance if the student

Otherwise a dependent student may receive the standard rate.

Income tests

The ABSTUDY Living Allowance is subject to a number of income tests.

Student income test

The student income test applies to all students unless they are

A student can earn up to $6,000 a year before ABSTUDY is affected. ABSTUDY will be reduced by $1 for every whole $2 the student earns over $6,000. If the student receives ABSTUDY for less than a full year, the amount he/she can earn will be proportionately less.

Parental income test

How much ABSTUDY a dependent student can receive also depends on the parents'/guardians' income. If the adjusted family income is over $23,550 a year the annual amount of Living Allowance is reduced by $1 for every whole $4 by which the adjusted family income is over $23,550.

Partner income test

If the student has a married or de facto partner, the amount he/she can get also depends on the partner's income. If the partner's adjusted income is more than $14,850, the annual amount the student can get is reduced by $1 for every whole $2 that the partner's adjusted income is over $14,850.

Allowances

The following allowances are available under ABSTUDY.

Living Allowance

For full-time students over 16 years. Income tested. The amount depends on the students age, whether he/she is considered independent and if he/she is living at home or away.

Dependent Spouse Allowance

May be paid if the student has a partner and a child who are financially dependent on the student.

Pensioner Education Supplement

To encourage some categories of pensioners to take up full-time study.

School Term Allowance

To help certain students with expenses such as books, uniforms and other school costs. It may be available for secondary students under 16 living at home (or not eligible for the away or independent rates) and primary school students aged 14 on 1 January 1999. To be eligible the student must be enrolled and go to school and

The rate is $520 a year for a student under 16 for the full academic year.

School Fees Allowance - at home rate

Is paid for students younger than 16 to help meet the costs of school fees. To be eligible the student must enrolled and study in the term and

The rate is $150 a year if the student is under 16 at 1 July 1999 and $75 if the student turns 16 between 1 January and 30 June 1999.

School Fees Allowance - for boarders

To help meet the costs of tuition fees. It is available for secondary students who are

The actual cost of school fees up to a maximum of $4,377 a year is payable.

Rent Assistance

Fares Allowance

May be paid to help a student approved to live away from home to travel between the permanent home and the place of study. It cannot be paid for daily travel.

Away from Base Testing and Assessment Programs

Assistance to attend testing and assessment programs by tertiary education institutions to interview, test or assess the suitability of applicants for a course of study. Limits apply.

Away from Base Assistance for Your Course

Covers students' fares and residential costs and enables students to participate in compulsory residential schools, field trips, and/or placements which are necessary to complete their course. Limits apply.

Incidentals Allowance

To help the student pay for general course expenses. For all tertiary students, secondary students who are 18 or older and full-time Masters and Doctorate students. The maximum amount a student can receive in a year is $355.

Additional Incidentals Allowance

For full-time students to assist them in meeting those course costs which are essential for all students in the course, such as textbooks or equipment, that exceed the prescribed amount. Limits and other conditions apply.

Lawful Custody Allowance

Essential course costs (but not living allowances) for Indigenous students in lawful custody.

Relocation Allowance

For full-time students eligible for the Masters and Doctorate living allowance who need to move to another town or city to take up Masters or Doctorate studies.

Thesis Allowance

Thesis allowance of up to $400 for a Masters student and $800 for Doctorate students who are in receipt of a Masters and Doctorate Award living allowance.

Payment of Course Fees or HECS

For students in receipt of a Masters and Doctorate Award living allowance, course fees or HECS is payable, whichever is the lesser.

Supplement Loan

A voluntary loan scheme for tertiary students. By trading in $1 of Living Allowance the student receives $2 as an interest free Supplement Loan, which the student must repay later. The Supplement Loan debt increases annually by the Consumer Price Index.

Submissions and evidence received

School meeting, Billiluna WA, 14 May 1999

"The students are 16 years old when they go to the boarding schools because if they are not 16 the parents have to subsidise the rent at the hostels to the tune of a couple of thousand dollars a term. It would cost them more than they would earn in a whole year. Abstudy will only pay once the children have turned 16."

Community meeting, Bourke NSW, 1 March 1999

Concern was expressed at the amount of time that it took for DETYA offices to process applications for Abstudy "There are a number of kids whose money has not come through and that means that we have had to provide books, pens, pencils, uniforms and shoes for kids."

"We enrolled four kids today who came back because their money had not come through and they could not afford to stay in a hostel. This lead time with this money coming through is having a huge affect."

Concern was expressed at the difficulties experienced by Indigenous children enrolled in hostels. Late Abstudy payments and an enrolment system which requires reapplication each year were reported to be having a negative impact on Indigenous students.

There was also concern at the administration of Abstudy: "You never seem to get support from Abstudy. I know families who have sent three applications away in the one envelope and then two of them are lost and the other one comes back."

Concern was expressed at the impact of Abstudy and Austudy being means-tested. "My view is while means testing is okay there should be still some sort of locality provision so that it is at least recognised that you are not bypassing a local institution; you have no choice but to send them away. If I were living in Sydney the cost of tertiary education for my children would have been absolutely minimal compared to what it is."

"It is frustrating, frustrating for the parents, frustrating for the kids. I have a son who is in university in Adelaide and Abstudy doesn't really cover all the education. If it wasn't for me and my wife he wouldn't be able to go through it because it's just not enough. He is living on the campus where he pays $75 a week for renting a place. At the end of terms he has got to wait three or four weeks before he can get Abstudy again. We pay his way but I am just thinking about the parents around here that haven't got that flow of money coming through all the time."

Beverley Angeles, Indigenous Education Council, Public Hearing, Darwin NT 10 May 1999

"With the changes to Abstudy too, with most of our Indigenous students, you'll find that they're independent from, usually, a younger age than maybe non-Indigenous students. I'm speaking from Alice Springs, I can't comment for here; usually by the time they're 13 they've usually left home, staying elsewhere. So Abstudy needs to address that issue."

Maria Stephens, Indigenous Education Council, Public Hearing, Darwin NT, 10 May 1999

"We've had a lot of parents actually come to us and say that they were concerned about the effects of Abstudy on their own family resources as well. When you have someone like - there was a gentleman, I think, who had seven children actually in the education system and each individual child was assessed individually against his income, rather than a bulk assessment against his single income."

"I think one of the major issues that has come to light recently is a letter that's been circulating throughout the Northern Territory from Centrelink, actually advising Aboriginal students that they only have to attend school one day per term, which is four days a year, and they're still entitled to their Abstudy. I think these are more the underlying problems than the Abstudy itself."

Ron Watt, Batchelor College, Public Hearing, Darwin NT, 1 May 1999

"Already we're having cases of students not being accepted onto Abstudy because they've taken too long to complete their course. For obvious reasons, our students take much longer to complete a three-year program than three years and we're already having Abstudy saying, 'You've been on Abstudy too long, you can't have it any longer' to a number of students; and there are already students not being allowed to go and do practicum because of the number of days away from base that would involve."

Meeting with Aboriginal Education Assistants and others, Moree NSW, 5 March 1999

Some parents cannot access Abstudy because of the means test, even though they are just above the poverty line. Participants feared the effects on adult education which, to date, has produced Aboriginal Education Assistants and teachers. Keeping Indigenous students in the education system is an ongoing challenge. Scholarships and bursaries were suggested.

Elaine Rabbitt, Broome campus, Edith Cowan University, Public Hearing, Perth WA, 24 May 1999

"Another issue is that the changes in Abstudy will grossly affect, I believe, Indigenous students, their retention rate also in secondary school, which has further ramifications of those that will reach university. Now, we all know that the retention rate of Indigenous students in secondary school is very low compared to the non-Indigenous students and institutions like Edith Cowan University have initiated teacher-training programs in rural areas. Now, in the Broome regional campus we have got Indigenous students in, for want of a better word, the mainstream bachelor of education program and we've got Indigenous students in the AIEW teacher-training program. The point I'd like to make now about the changes in Abstudy which affect those students doing their teacher training is one that to complete a bachelor of education the students have to go on a 10-week teaching practice. Now, we're encouraging Indigenous students to do their teaching practice in remote communities, in their own communities where they may come from, or their family or to just go out to a community even if they have no family affiliations there. It's brought to my attention this year that through the changes to Abstudy those students that elect to go out into the communities to do their prac teaching are only eligible for 40 days away from home allowance. So this leaves a shortfall. If we're talking really remote where the students can't come in on the weekends, it leaves a shortfall of up to 30 or 40 days where there is no allowance covered for their teaching practice. In the current situation now, some students are experiencing severe hardship and poverty because of this, because they want to be out in the community doing their prac teaching but the allowance doesn't cover them."

Professor John Lester, NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, Sydney hearing, 22 October 1999:

"... because of the diversity and distances that rural communities obviously suffer, any change to Abstudy will have disastrous effects. You'd only have to change the margins, and all of a sudden you disenfranchise whole groups and whole communities from educational opportunity. That is starting to be witnessed at tertiary institutions, which are starting to look reasonable. Those numbers could fall and deplete very quickly in the next round of major Abstudy changes, which are due in the year 2000, and we could actually in fact see a whole lot of disincentives for Aboriginal people, in particular mature-age adults attending university. Hence, that will have a disastrous effect on local communities."

Sister Maryanne, St Joseph's Primary School, Kununurra hearing, 17 May 1999:

"The ABSTUDY forms are too hard to fill in for many of the parents. They are always being sent back and we spend a lot of time on the phone trying to sort out problems. We have to go through Darwin before we can talk to Perth. All of this takes time and postpones the starting date for boarding school. ABSTUDY can work as a disincentive for schooling. ABSTUDY A is paid for children who stay here for school and ABSTUDY B is for children who go away for boarding. ABSTUDY needs to be linked to attendance. Rather than being paid twice a year, if they were paid on a bi-monthly basis then it could be more closely linked to attendance. Centrelink really needs to educate the communities that when they are not attending they do not receive the ABSTUDY funding and the money is actually deducted from the family allowance. So then the students can realise that they are actually penalising their families. That sort of information is not readily available until the parent receives a big bill, they get terribly upset, and then they want to withdraw the children from school and not send any of the others away or on to secondary school.

"For those children who feel they must go out of town to get a secondary education, ABSTUDY must offer more efficient and effective support. This must involve a simpler application process and quicker response time so that students can be there for the beginning of the school year. There needs to be some continuity of personnel and of process."

Click here to see ATSIC's 1998 review of changes to Abstudy.

In response to ATSIC's critique the Minister for Education, training and Youth Affairs, Dr David Kemp, said, "Over 80% of Abstudy students will gain, or experience no change or minimal change as a result of new Abstudy arrangements to be instituted from January 1 next year [ie 2000]" (media release dated 23 September 1999).

Tony Greer, DETYA, Canberra Hearing, 26 October 1999:

"[T]here were changes to the away-from-base dimension of Abstudy in the 1997 budget context. As a consequence of that some transitional assistance was provided through 1998 to ensure that, notwithstanding that policy change, the numbers - whether there's six visits or what have you - were in fact maintained. Then as a consequence of the Abstudy review and the decision that government took on Abstudy in December 98, it was agreed that there would be a fundamental change in the way we approach the away-from-base or mixed-mode provision under Abstudy, in the sense that much greater flexibility and far less prescription would attach to that.

"So that in implementing the decisions of the 1998 Abstudy review decision, providers have now been assessed more or less in a dollar value of what their budgets will be for away-from-base assistance; that taken on their 1998 level of funding which included top-ups to keep them at least I think at their 1997 level which was pre-budget. That provision is currently going through the parliament with the Indigenous education bill, which will from January next year provide much greater flexibility to Batchelor College, to other colleges, to determine how many return visits etcetera the particular students will need.

"We will be providing not an ungenerous budget to providers, walking away from a lot of the prescriptive business that characterised the previous guidelines, and giving much more capacity for those colleges to manage that."

Peter Buckskin, DETYA, Canberra Hearing, 26 October 1999:

"Abstudy has got to be seen - the away-from-base activity where you can either have the students come in to the college itself or those lecturers to go out to the site where the students actually live and are enrolled from, is really a mode of delivery, and it should be seen - as well as being supported by the other program that the Commonwealth runs which is ATAS [Aboriginal Tutorial Assistance Scheme], and Batchelor College gets a bulk allocation literally in its millions to provide support for some of these students that are enrolled - any student that's enrolled in a course that's having difficulty, and it's up to the college administration when they enrol people to identify those who will be needing additional support to complete that certificate, associate diploma, diploma or degree.

"Batchelor College has had over two years to revamp their program, to come up to the six trips, 40 days, and clearly they are not satisfied with the level of funding that they've got out of Abstudy but it is based on their 98 income. It's based on the student enrolment that they had. Now, if their student enrolment goes up, they get more money . [Mr Buckskin confirmed that Batchelor is now at liberty to organise its courses as it sees fit - for each course a notional allocation for 6 trips per year will be provided by DETYA, but these can in fact be allocated as needed]

"Also we've been entering into dialogue with a number of providers, and some providers find this very useful because it is very flexible. You choose the company to which - you don't have to choose Qantas like the Commonwealth. You can go to the cheapest bidder in terms of a charter service in your particular area, rather than go through a specific airline. How you structure your course is up to you. It's much less rigid than it was before, and there are some places like Deakin University, that has lots of people from the Northern Territory, that are finding it really useful and really welcome the changes that we brought in in 1997 because it does provide flexibility."

Information supplied in DETYA's submission, pages 105-108 (Attachment 4):

Abstudy - Non-metropolitan beneficiaries and expenditures 1996-1999

Abstudy December 1996 December 1997
  Beneficiaries % Expenditure ($) % Beneficiaries % Expenditure ($) %
Metropolitan 12,895 26.4 35,047,233 28.8 13,296 26.2 39,393,529 28.8
Reg'l Centre 11,479 23.5 29,971,961 24.6 10,661 21.0 29,477,621 21.5
Country Town 19,505 40.0 45,148,459 37.1 21,100 41.6 52,637,994 38.4
Other 4,891 10.0 11,463,812 9.4 5,706 11.2 15,498,862 11.3
Total 48,769 100 121,631,466 100 50,763 100 137,008,005 100

December 1998 June 1999
Beneficiaries % Expenditure ($) % Beneficiaries % Expenditure ($) %
13,098 25.9 32,945,384 28.0 13,371 29.4 20,404,123 28.5
10,547 20.9 25,336,202 21.5 8,804 19.3 16,345,459 22.8
21,087 41.8 45,680,823 38.8 17,369 38.2 27,434,609 38.3
5,763 11.4 13,779,533 11.7 5,983 13.1 7,484,124 10.4
50,495 100 117,741,942 100 45,528  100 71,668,314 100

Your experiences?

What is your experience with ABSTUDY?

  1. If you have ever applied for ABSTUDY, please tell us about your experiences.
  2. Were you successful?
  3. If not, what was the reason?
  4. Do you think the ABSTUDY rules are appropriate and fair?
  5. Do you think the rates of allowances are adequate?
  6. Do you think the ABSTUDY rules are easy to understand?

Please e-mail: bushtalks@hreoc.gov.au

Or post your comments to:

Rural and Remote Education Inquiry
GPO Box 5218
SYDNEY NSW 1042

Last updated 2 December 2001.