Approved distance education/external study 010-07010120

The away from home rate of payment is paid where the student has a need to live away from home.

There are a number of acceptable reasons to live away from home for ABSTUDY and Youth Allowance (YA) but most of them will not apply to distance education or external students as they would be living at home with parent(s)/guardian(s).

In some cases, a student may have a compulsory residential requirement for a course that is being studied by external/distance education mode. These customers may also be eligible for the away from home rate, or in the case of ABSTUDY, Away from Base assistance for the period they need to live away from home.

Students can only be paid while they are overseas if they are maintaining their course workload for their approved Australian course. This usually means that they are outside Australia while undertaking part of their Australian course at an overseas institution.

Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) applicants can continue receiving AIC allowance for a student who is participating in an international student exchange in certain circumstances.

An external/distance student, with no requirement to attend a particular location/campus can live where he or she chooses. As long as the student maintains the appropriate study load and resides in Australia, they remain eligible for payment. They would, however, must meet the general portability requirements to remain payable while overseas unless they are required to complete a compulsory part of their course at an overseas institution. See Portability of payments. For ABSTUDY and dependent YA students the at home rate would be payable as the student has no reason to live away from home.

AIC applicants can in certain circumstances continue to receive AIC Distance Education Allowance (DED) for a student who is overseas for less than 12 months.

FAA can only be paid to ABSTUDY recipients or students receiving Austudy, Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) or YA, where there is a need to leave home to attend study (for example, at the beginning and end of the year).

While external students do not need to attend the institution daily a course will sometimes require a student to:

• attend a residential school
• undertake field trips
• take part in work placements, or
• attend a particular location for examination purposes.

External ABSTUDY students can receive FAA for any of these reasons under Away from Base assistance.

Students receiving Austudy, PES or YA can only receive FAA to attend a compulsory residential component of the course. They cannot be paid to travel to a practical component that is held away from the institution itself.

A distance education student who is AIC eligible and studies at home or the home location would usually be paid Distance Education Allowance (DED).

Where a student who meets the AIC eligibility criteria lives in an approved second home that provides closer access to the local school, Second Home Allowance may be paid.

There is no difference in study load requirements for students who are studying through external/distance education or on campus.