Eligibility for Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme allowances 010-03040000

For a student who:

• boards away from home in order to have daily access to appropriate schooling, the relevant allowance will normally be Boarding Allowance. Additional Boarding Allowance is a means-tested supplementary payment to provide extra support for lower-income families
• lives in a second family home in order for them or their sibling to have daily access to appropriate schooling, the relevant allowance will normally be Second Home Allowance
• lives at the principal family home while studying by distance education methods, undertaking home schooling, attending a Homeland Learning Centre in the Northern Territory or attending a residential school as part of their distance education course, the relevant allowance will normally be Distance Education Allowance
• lives in a second family home while studying by distance education methods and the home is maintained for reasons other than access to appropriate schooling for the student or their sibling, the relevant allowance will normally be Distance Education Allowance
• receives Disability Support Pension (DSP) or Parenting Payment Single (PPS), the applicable allowance is the AIC Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

Short-term Boarding Allowance is available for a student who needs to board for short periods during the year, for example, to undertake diagnostic testing and/or receive support for a learning disability, or when access from the principal family home to the school is cut off due to special weather conditions.

Short-term Boarding Allowance is not generally available for students in a special institution catering for students with disabilities or health-related conditions where they are residing there for period(s) of less than twenty continuous school days.

AIC allowances are normally available for the full calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December in the year of study. Pro-rata entitlement applies if a student is not eligible for the full year, for example, for short-term boarding or where eligibility commences during the year.