Transfer to Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) (student) from another payment 010-01020060

Customers wishing to test their eligibility for YA or Austudy as a student must submit a new claim, unless they are already receiving:

• YA (job seeker) or YA as an Australian Apprentice, see Youth Allowance (YA) job seeker or Australian Apprentice returning to full-time study, or
• Austudy as an Australian Apprentice and are ceasing their Australian Apprenticeship and starting full-time study, see Customer no longer an Australian Apprentice

Claims for YA or Austudy can be submitted using:

• Customer online accounts
• Assisted Customer Claim (ACC)
• Claim for Youth Allowance (SY001)
• Claim for Austudy (SY002)

Note: the Re-claim or Transfer for Austudy or Youth Allowance (SY089) paper claim lodged with a Date of Receipt on or after 1 April 2023 are no longer accepted.

When claiming online, a customer claiming Austudy or YA may be selected for a reduced question set if they are currently in receipt of a payment listed below (for example their payment status is Current (CUR) or Current Zero Rate (CZR)):

• Age Pension
• Carer Payment
• Carer Allowance
• Disability Support Pension
• Farm Household Allowance
• JobSeeker Payment
• Parenting Payment Partnered
• Parenting Payment Single
• Special Benefit
• Youth Allowance (YAL)

Claimants presented with the reduced question set for YA or Austudy will only be asked for information that is not already known to the agency. The following question modules are presented to the customer:

• Study Details
• Circumstances
• Payment Instructions
• Scholarships

Students are asked to update their details via the My Profile page before completing the above question sets. On completion of the question modules, the Claim Summary page only displays the questions answered on the modules listed above. This also applies to ACCs.

Note: full-time students and Australian Apprentices claiming YA and Austudy are required to use online accounts, unless the transaction is not appropriate. Paper claim forms should only be issued when all other claiming options have failed.

Services Australia is obligated to ensure that customers are advised of their options, where they may be eligible for more than one payment type. For example, a customer may be better off financially by remaining on Parenting Payment Single (PPS) and receiving Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) rather than receiving Austudy.

When assessing transfer claims, ensure the outcome will provide the most benefit to the customer. For further information, see Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices.

Customers can submit early YA or Austudy claims up to 13 weeks before their qualification date. In some circumstances, a claim that is submitted early should only be processed from the date the student commences study, so it does not affect the delivery of the payment the customer is currently receiving.

If a customer has unused Working Credits or a Student Income Bank in the last 12 months, they may be eligible to transfer or restore their previous Working Credits/Income Bank balance to their new Student Income Bank opening balance.