ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance (SFA) at home rate (Group 1) 010-02050100

Is there a 'School Fees Allowance NOT paid in 20XX' MFU on the student's record?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, go to Step 2

Note: students turning 16 before Term 1 starts are eligible for SFA (Group 1), even if they were not in receipt of Schooling A Award when they started school. See the Resources page for an example.

Does, or did, the student meet the Schooling A Award criteria?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No:
• Tell the student they are not eligible for SFA at the at home rate (Group 1)
• Encourage the customer to test their eligibility
• Record details on a DOC
• Procedure ends here

The applicant or /applicant's partner must meet one of the following:

• qualifies for one of the prescribed forms of Commonwealth Government assistance
• is taken to be receiving their income support payment during an employment income nil rate period
• is the holder of a current Low Income Health Care Card (LIC) or an automatic issue Health Care Card (HCC). This includes an HCC issued due to receiving maximum rate Family Tax Benefit (FTB) Part A or an extension HCC

The applicant does not meet the criteria:

• for a period after the expiry date on the card
• if they hold an HCC because they receive a Mobility Allowance (MOB) or Carer Allowance (CA) (in respect of a disabled child)
• if the concession card is a:
• Foster Child HCC (FST) issued due to another child in their care (not the ABSTUDY student)
• Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) or a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) and the card holder no longer receives an income support payment

Do, or did, any of the above criteria apply to the applicant or applicant's partner on any day between 1 January and 31 December in the year of the claim?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No:
• Tell the applicant the student is not eligible for SFA (Group 1)
• Record details on a DOC
• Procedure ends here

Entitlement to SFA (Group 1) is established when the student starts study during the school year.

Is, or was, the student enrolled and attending studies at a secondary school (or primary school where eligible under the Schooling A Award) on any 1 day in the year of the claim?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, student is not eligible for SFA (Group 1). If SFA (Group 1):
• has been paid, the applicant or school will need to refund the full amount to Services Australia, see Step 3 in Table 3
• has not been paid, record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Student is eligible for SFA (Group 1) for the year of the claim.

Check who should receive the payment. If the school fees:

• have been paid by a third party, go to Step 10
• have been paid by the applicant, go to Step 6
• have not been paid, and the applicants wants:
• to claim reimbursement of SFA (Group 1), tell the applicant they will need to pay the fees and provide proof of payment. Procedure ends here
• SFA (Group 1) to be paid to the school, go to Step 9

Where SFA (Group 1) has already been paid to a school, see Table 2, Step 6.

Proof of payment must be evidence that confirms the school has received payment of school fees for the student, such as receipts or a paid tax invoice. See the Resources page for examples.

Has proof of payment been provided?

• Yes, for:
• processing staff, see Table 2, Step 1
• telephony staff
  Create an open ABSTUDY action request Fast Note
  Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm
  Procedure ends here
• No, for:
• current customers, request proof of payment of school fees
• assessments within a Schooling A new claim activity, request proof of payment of school fees. Leave the Supplementary Education Payments (EPSP) screen blank. Do not hold or reject the claim if the applicant has requested reimbursement, but has not provided proof of payment of school fees. SFA (Group 1) reimbursement can be assessed once the applicant has provided the proof of payment
  Procedure ends here

A 'School Fees Allowance NOT paid in 20XX' MFU generates on a student record when:

• an applicant requests reimbursement of SFA (Group 1), and
• no SFA (Group 1) payment has been made in the applicable year (because no proof of payment of school fees has been lodged)

Service Officers must make 2 genuine attempts to contact the applicant to obtain proof of payment of the school fees.

Was contact made with the applicant?

• Yes, go to Step 8
• No, and a request to obtain the proof of payment has:
• not been sent, place the MFU on hold for a further 21 days. Send a request for the applicant to provide proof of payment of the school fees using a Q999. Procedure ends here
• been sent and no response received, go to Step 9

Proof of payment must be evidence that confirms the school has received payment of school fees for the student, such as receipts or a paid tax invoice. See the Resources page for examples.

Has proof of payment of school fees been provided?

• Yes, and payment was made by:
• a third party, go to Step 10
• the applicant, see Table 2, Step 1
• No, and the applicant will:
• be providing proof, DOC the record and place the MFU on hold for 14 days. Procedure ends here
• not be providing proof, go to Step 9

Pay the full amount of ABSTUDY SFA (Group 1) direct to the school.

If an eligible student has changed schools but the SFA (Group 1) was not paid to the previous school, the applicant can request the SFA (Group 1) be forwarded to either the previous or current school.

Where the SFA (Group 1) paid to the school exceeds the fees levied/payable, the school cannot pay the excess amount of SFA (Group 1) to the parent. It is expected to spend any excess school fees paid by ABSTUDY on Indigenous education.

See Table 2, Step 1.

As a third party has incurred the expense, and not the applicant, SFA (Group 1) cannot be reimbursed.

The school is also not entitled to receive payment of SFA (Group 1), as the school fees have been paid by a third party.

Record details on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

Check if the student has reached the maximum rate of SFA (Group 1) for the academic year. Payments of SFA (Group 1) cannot exceed the maximum rate.

• Create an open ABSTUDY action request Fast Note for action by the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm
• Procedure ends here

Go to the Supplementary Education Summary (EPSS) screen.

Are there any payment lines showing with an Event Date of the academic year for which payment of SFA (Group 1) is claimed?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, see Table 4, Step 1

• Go to the Supplementary Education Payment (EPSP) screen
• Key 'S' in the select: field of the payment line

If the Payee: field has:

• Customer (CUS), go to Step 3
• Third Party (TPT), go to Step 6

The amount of SFA (Group 1) that has been paid to the customer will display in the Amount Paid: field.

The maximum amount that the student will receive will depend on when their 16th birthday is in relation to 1 July (automatically calculated by the system). See ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance Group 1.

Has the customer been paid their full entitlement to SFA (Group 1) in the academic year?

• Yes, go to Step 4
• No, go to Step 5

• Tell the customer that they have received their full entitlement to SFA (Group 1) in the academic year
• Record details on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

Before reimbursing any further ABSTUDY SFA (Group 1) payments, the applicant must provide proof they have paid school fees.

Has proof of payment been provided?

• Yes, see Table 5, Step 1
• No, request payment of school fees. Procedure ends here

Did the student commence studies at the school that received the SFA (Group 1)?

• Yes, go to Step 7
• No, see Table 3, Step 3

If the applicant:

• has advised that the student has now changed schools, see Table 3, Step 1
• wants to apply for reimbursement of the SFA (Group 1), see Table 3, Step 2
• does not want to do any of the above:
• no further action is needed
• the student has been granted their full entitlement of SFA (Group 1) for the year, and it has been paid to the correct school
• procedure ends here

If the student has changed school, and the SFA (Group 1) was paid correctly to the previous school, no further SFA (Group 1) is payable.

Advise the applicant they may approach the previous school to negotiate a transfer of a pro-rata SFA (Group 1) between the schools. The Education Departments of most States or territories allow this to occur.

This is voluntary and at the discretion of the schools involved. Services Australia has no authority to encourage, direct or compel a school to pass on any SFA (Group 1) in this circumstance.

Update the Education Course Details (EDC) and Payment Instruction Summary (PIPI) screens with the new school details:

• Create an open ABSTUDY action request Fast Note for the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team to update the record with the new school details
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm
• Procedure ends here

• Update EDC and PIPI screens with the new school details
• Record details on a DOC

Procedure ends here.

The SFA (Group 1) cannot be reimbursed to the applicant if it has been paid correctly to a school where the student commenced.

No debt will be raised against the school.

If the applicant has already paid some or all of the student's school fees, they will need to request the school refund them any excess fees they have paid. This is between the school and the applicant.

Record details on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

• Create an open ABSTUDY action request Fast Note for the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team to update the record with the new school details
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm
• Procedure ends here

The full amount of SFA (Group 1), paid to a school at which the student did not commence, must be refunded to Services Australia by that school.

Tell the applicant that once this happens, the SFA (Group 1) can be either:

• redirected to the correct school, or
• reimbursed upon providing proof of payment of school fees

SFA (Group 1) cannot be reissued to a new payee via the Payment Summary (PS) screen. To allow the SFA (Group 1) to be paid correctly, a debt must first be raised against the incorrect payee.

Go to the Supplementary Education Summary (EPSS) screen.

• Delete the SFA (Group 1) that has been paid to the incorrect school or applicant, by keying a 'D' in the Select field on the Payment line for the relevant year
• Complete the Source and Date of Receipt (DOR) fields
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen, confirm the outcome and finalise the activity

Note: this action should raise a debt against the school or applicant who originally received the SFA (Group 1) payment. There is a known issue where, on some records, the debt is raised incorrectly against the applicant.

Has the debt been raised against the correct record?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

The debt shell created must be raised for the education provider that received the SFA (Group 1) incorrectly, by the relevant ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team.

See Raising ABSTUDY debts.

Record details on a DOC.

Is the SFA (Group 1) payment to be paid to another education provider or applicant?

• Yes, see Table 4, Step 1
• No, procedure ends here

Where the debt is raising incorrectly against the wrong record:

• Create an open ABSTUDY action request Fast Note, for the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team to action the debt
• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use > Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm
• Procedure ends here

• Finalise 'no debt' the undetermined debt activity against the applicant and
• Manually raise a debt against the applicable applicant or education provider
• Record details on a DOC. See:
• Online Document Recording (ODR) Resources page for Act References
• Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)
• See Table 4, Step 1

Is the SFA (Group 1) payment to be paid to a school?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Table 5, Step 1

To pay SFA (Group 1) to the school, they must have an organisation record with bank account details. Schools cannot be issued cheque payments. For assistance, see Step 7 in Table 1 in Creating and updating Organisation records for ABSTUDY and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) purposes.

Does the school have an organisation record with bank account details?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No,
• Advise the school, organisation bank account details can be provided using the Education or board provider bank details – ABSTUDY/Assistance for Isolated Children (SY116) form. See the Resources page for a link to the form available on the Services Australia website
• Create an ABSTUDY action request Fast Note for the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team to create an organisation record
  Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students > ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action request > Confirm.
  Procedure ends here
• Create a record for ABSTUDY purposes, go to Step 3

Create a new payment line on the Supplementary Education Summary (EPSS) screen:

• Go to the Education Course History (EDCH) screen
• Next to the current course in the Select drop down menu choose EPSP
• Select Continue

On the EPSP screen update:

• Course ID and Institution: fields - will default with course information based on the selection from the Education Course Details (EDC) screen
• Event Date: field - this is the date from which the fees are payable to the school and should be on or after the expected commencement date for the student.
  Note:
• SFA (Group 1) will not pay if the ABSTUDY record is not current, or the student has turned 16
• The date used must be within the period when the ABSTUDY was current and before the student turned 16
• Payment Type: field - SFA
• Reason: field - leave blank
• Amount Claimed: field - leave blank
• Amount Paid: field - leave blank. SFA (Group 1) is automatically calculated
• Payee: field - TPT
• Claim Details: field - leave blank
• Frequency: field - defaults to ONE. Do not change
• End Date: field - leave blank
• Complete the Source and Date of Receipt (DOR) fields
• Select Continue or press [Enter]

• Go to the Payment Instruction Summary (PIPI) screen
• Allocate the SFA (Group 1) to the correct school

Check the SFA (Group 1) has been paid to the correct school:

• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• Select the applicable payment from the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• View the Payment Details (PD) and Third Party Payment Details (PDD) screens
• Finalise the activity

Record details on a DOC. See:

• Online Document Recording (ODR) Resources page for Act References
• Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

SFA (Group 1) can be reimbursed to the applicant, when:

• proof of payment of school fees has been supplied, and
• full or part entitlement to SFA (Group 1) is available for the relevant academic year

Has there already been a reimbursement of SFA (Group 1) in the relevant school year?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, go to Step 4

Any further SFA (Group 1) the applicant is now claiming, is added to the Amount Claimed: field and the Amount Paid: field, that is already displaying on the EPSP screen. Select the applicable Event Date from the EPSS screen and update as follows:

• Event Date: field - do not change
• Payment Type: field - leave as SFA
• Reason: field - leave blank
• Amount Claimed: field - add the actual amount paid by the applicant, as evidenced by the receipts provided, to the amount that was already coded, to give a total for the year spent on school fees
• Amount Paid: field - enter the same amount that has been coded in the Amount Claimed: field (if the actual amount is greater than the maximum payable for the student, the system will automatically determine the maximum payable for the student)
• Payee: field - remains as CUS
• Claim Details: field - enter details of the SFA (Group 1) that is being claimed by the applicant a second time (this is a free text field)
• Frequency: field - this must be one-off and defaults to ONE
• End Date: field - leave blank
• Complete the Source and Date of Receipt (DOR) fields
• Select Continue or press [Enter]

Go to Step 6.

Create a new payment line on the EPSS screen.

• Go to the EDCH screen
• Next to the applicable course in the Select drop down menu choose EPSP, then Continue

On the EPSP screen, update:

• Course ID: and Institution: fields - default with the course information based on the selection from the EDCH screen
• Event Date: field - this is the date from which the fees are payable to the applicant and must be on or after the expected commencement date of the student.
  Note:
• SFA (Group 1) will not pay if the ABSTUDY record is not current, or the student has turned 16
• The date used must be within the period when the ABSTUDY was current and before the student turned 16
• Payment Type: field - SFA
• Reason: field - leave blank
• Amount Claimed: field - enter the actual amount paid by the applicant as evidenced by the receipts provided
• Amount Paid: field - enter the actual amount to be reimbursed to the applicant (if the actual amount is greater than the maximum payable for the student, the system will automatically determine the maximum payable for the student)
• Payee: field - CUS
• Claim Details: field - leave blank
• Frequency: field - defaults to ONE. Do not change
• End Date: field - leave blank
• Complete the Source and Date of Receipt (DOR) fields
• Select Continue or press [Enter]

Confirm the SFA (Group 1) is paying correctly:

• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen
• View the applicable payment on the Payment Summary (PS) screen
• Finalise the activity

Record details on a DOC. See:

• Online Document Recording (ODR) Resources page for Act References
• Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)