Manage study details 101-08210010

Customers issued a Course end review letter, can use the Manage study details online service through a Confirm course end date task to:

• update their study details, and
• request more support from Services Australia

The task displays on the customer’s Centrelink online account homepage and takes customers to the Study details page where they can:

• update their student end date if they need more time to complete their course or will complete it earlier than expected
• add a new course if they are completing their current course and starting a new one
• apply for a job seeking payment if they need more help when they finish studying. If they have met their notification obligations:
• JobSeeker Payment (JSP) streamlined claims are offered to Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA) students who are 22 years or over on their student end date plus 1
• Student to jobseeker transfers are offered to YA students who are under 22 at their student end date plus 1

The Confirm course end date task does not display if the customer has:

• an outstanding study details activity
• a submitted JSP claim
• already reached their student end date

If the customer submits updates to their study details during the course end date review period, a receipt page will display:

• confirming the information provided in their online update, and
• any further action they need to take to remain on a student payment or to apply for another income support payment

Austudy (AUS), ABSTUDY (ABY), Pensioner Education Supplement (PES), ABSTUDY PES (ABY PES), Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) and Youth Allowance (YA) (student) customers can use the Manage study details service to make changes to their current or future study details.

Customers can:

• change their:
• student end date
• course
• study load
• provide their student ID if they have not provided it before

If the customer submits updates to their study details, a receipt page will display confirming the information provided in their online update.

Customers cannot make changes to their current courses:

• education provider's name
• course title
• level of study, or
• course start date

Add new course will always display for ABY, ABY PES and YA (job seeker) customers.

Add new course will only display for YA (student), AUS and PES customers, if they have:

• a current course with a student end date in the next 13 weeks, and
• no future course or intention to study recorded

When adding a new course, customers can search for the course using predictive text. They can:

• select other and unknown fields if they do not know their course code
• manually enter information if the field is blank
• change course start and end dates if the pre-populated dates are incorrect

Customers adding an approved scholarship course are asked if they want to apply for a Student Start-up Loan.

If the customer may qualify for Relocation Scholarship (RS), they are asked to provide their family home address.

When a customer has a future course, they are unable to make updates to their current or future course.

If the customer wants to:

• update their current course they need to select Remove to remove the future course first
• change their future course they can use the Change course option

Customers can use the Manage study details service to apply for or change SSL decisions for current or future loan periods.

Customers can apply for one or more SSL loan periods when:

• adding a new course, or
• updating a current course, and
• the new or current course is an approved scholarship course

If a customer applies for an SSL through the Manage study details service, they must accept the terms and conditions for the loan/s to submit their update.

YA (student) or AUS customers can use the Manage study details service to record an intention to study in the next study period when they:

• are not sure if they will get an offer for a course
• do not know the full details of a course, or
• have not decided which course they will enrol in

Customers who want to record an intention to study need to select Add new course and I only know the start date when asked about their new course.

The customer is asked to enter the expected start date of their course.

YA is only paid for courses the customer started before they turn 25. See Determining minimum and maximum age for Youth Allowance (YA).

If a customer changes their course or adds a new course that starts after their 25th birthday, they are told within the study update:

• they need to submit an Austudy claim, and
• the day on which they should do so

Customers will select the option that best fits their circumstance when they update their current course details.

Additional questions in the Manage study details service determine if a customer:

• needs to provide evidence to verify their circumstances
• is no longer eligible for a student payment

For more information about when a customer has selected:

• changing my study end date, go to Step 2
• changing courses, go to Step 3
• providing my student ID, go to Step 4
• changing my study load, go to Step 5

When an AUS, YAL or ABY customer advises they stopped studying in the past they are asked if they are:

• experiencing an unforeseen or extreme circumstance
• deferring or taking an approved leave of absence, and
• intending to return to full time study

If the customer answers yes, they are advised to call Services Australia to discuss their circumstances. Customers who meet these criteria should be offered social worker assistance. See Social work service referral.

When the customer contacts, and is receiving:

• AUS or YA, provide the details of the customers circumstances, including if they remain enrolled in their course, and the date they intend to return to full time study to the level 3 helpdesk. For more information, see:
• Youth Allowance (YA) student or Australian Apprentice becomes incapacitated or impacted by unforeseen or extreme circumstances
• Austudy student or Australian Apprentice becomes incapacitated or impacted by unforeseen or extreme circumstances
• ABY, see Payment of ABSTUDY when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course

YA customers under 22 years are asked if they want to stay on YA as a job seeker if:

• they are stopping study, and
• their Student End Date (SED) is between 14 days in the past and up to 28 days in the future of the date they are making their study update

See Student to job seeker transfers and Age eligibility for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Youth Allowance (job seeker).

YA students who update their SED but do not meet their notification obligations are not eligible to transfer to YA (job seeker). Cancel their YA. They need to submit a new claim if they want to test their eligibility for YA (job seeker). See Cancellation of Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices.

AUS and YA customers aged 22 and over who stop studying are offered a JSP claim. They may not be able to submit the claim until after their study update is processed.

If a customer contacts because they are unable to submit a JSP claim, check Transactions in Process Direct for any outstanding online study update.

If there is a study update with a status of For Manual Action and the Service Officer is:

• student skilled, complete the study update. Tell the customer to continue with their JSP claim
• not student skilled, transfer the customer to the Youth and Students or ABSTUDY line so they can complete the study update

See Transfer to JobSeeker Payment (JSP) from another payment.

ABY customers 22 years and over are advised they can test their eligibility for JobSeeker Payment.

ABY customers under 22 years are advised they can test their eligibility for Youth Allowance (job seeker).

A customer can extend their study end date in the online service by up to 1 year from their existing SED.

Assess allowable time or satisfactory progress when customers have extended their SED.

See Determining allowable time/reasonable time for a course of study.

AUS, YA (student), PES and TAP customers can use the Manage study details service to advise they have changed courses.

Customers who change their course are asked additional questions to determine if they meet continuing/intending student provisions. Do not complete further checks for continuing students when processing the study update.

If the customer is not a continuing/intending student cancel their student payment. AUS and YA customers will be offered the option to:

• claim a job seeking payment, or
• complete a streamline claim in their study update if they’ve met their notification requirements

See Table 1, Step 4 in Effect of end of course on payments for students.

If a customer has:

• not provided their student ID before, they can use the Manage study details service to provide it
• provided their student ID before, they will not see this option

Customers changing to part time study or adding a new course with a part time study load are asked additional questions to confirm the reason for their reduced study load.

Customers who advise they are part time due to course requirements, medical reasons or may be eligible to have their study load aggregated, are:

• told they must supply evidence within 14 days, and
• given a link to the Services Australia website for the relevant evidence requirements

There is no online task or formal request for evidence. The transaction slider will show that the service told the customer they need to supply evidence within 14 days.

If the service asked a customer to supply evidence and the study update is allocated:

• less than 14 days from the date of submission, put the work item on hold until the submission date + 15 days
• more than 14 days from the date of submission, check for evidence the customer may have supplied. Finalise the work item as appropriate

To assess if aggregation of study load can apply, customers are asked if they are studying a tertiary course and are enrolled in:

• more than one study period, or
• a subject that extends across more than one study period

If the customer answers yes, they are told to provide evidence within 14 days showing their total Equivalent Full Time Study Load (EFTSL) over the period they are enrolled. Customers are also advised if they do not provide evidence, they will not be eligible for their student payment from the day they stopped studying full time.

Customers who select my course requirements changed as the reason they’re studying part time are told to provide a letter:

• from their education provider within 14 days, and
• that confirms the reason their study load changed

Customers are also advised if they do not provide the letter, they will not be eligible for their student payment from the day they stopped studying full time.

Youth Allowance customers who select I’m sick, injured or have a disability as the reason they are studying part time are asked if they are planning to return to full time study.

If the answer is

• no, they are told they can no longer be paid as a student. If under 22 years, they are asked if they want to test their eligibility for Youth Allowance as a job seeker. If 22 years or older they are offered a claim for JobSeeker Payment.
• yes, they are told they must provide medical evidence within 14 days showing why they are unable to study full time. They are advised if they do not provide medical evidence, they will not be eligible for their student payment from the day they stopped studying full time.

Austudy customers who select I’m sick, injured or have a disability as the reason they are studying part time are asked if they are planning to return to full time study.

Customers are told they must provide medical evidence within 14 days showing why they are unable to study full time. They are advised if they do not provide medical evidence, they will not be eligible for their student payment from the day they stopped studying full time.

Based on the evidence provided determine if the customer is eligible for a 25% concessional study load.

If the customer is not eligible for the 25% concessional study load determine if they are eligible for a temporary incapacity exemption if they are returning to full time study.

Customers are told they must provide medical evidence within 14 days showing why they are unable to study full time. They are advised if they do not provide medical evidence, they will not be eligible for their student payment from the day they stopped studying full time.

For more information, see Changing study load from full-time to part-time or concessional study load for ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES).

PES and ABY PES customers who select I’m sick, injured or have a disability as the reason they are studying part time, do not need to provide medical evidence as their rate of PES will be paid based on their primary benefit and study load.

See:

• Assessing eligibility for 25% concessional study load for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Assessing eligibility for 66% concessional study load for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Assessing the pensioner study load concession for ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

AUS, and YA customers who select I choose to study part time cannot be paid as a student. Customers who meet their notification provisions are offered the option to complete a JSP streamline claim or book a student to jobseeker transfer appointment.

For ABSTUDY customers who choose to study part time, see Changing study load from full-time to part-time or concessional study load for ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES).

PES and ABY PES customers who choose to study part time are asked to provide their study load, their rate of PES is paid accordingly when their study update is finalised.

AUS, YA and ABY customers who select Due to an unforeseen or extreme circumstance as the reason they are studying part time are told to contact Services Australia.

Customers who meet these criteria should be offered social work assistance. See Social work service referral.

When the customer contacts, and is receiving:

• AUS or YA, provide the details of the customers circumstances, including their study load and the date they intend to return to full time study to the level 3 helpdesk. For more information, see:
• Youth Allowance (YA) student or Australian Apprentice becomes incapacitated or impacted by unforeseen or extreme circumstances
• Austudy student or Australian Apprentice becomes incapacitated or impacted by unforeseen or extreme circumstances
• ABY, see Changing study load from full-time to part-time or concessional study load for ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)

If a customer attempted to update their study details through the Manage study details service and the details do not show online, the customer may contact seeking help.

Service Officers must check the customer's record to investigate the reason.

• If a customer extended their student end date, the system may create a For Manual Action CoC to assess the customer's circumstances manually
• Some updates made by the customer may have to be manually processed. This can take time before the details are on the Study Details page in their Centrelink online account
• Customers with a submitted study update are not able to access the Manage study details service while the update is in a status of “For Manual Action”. Service Officers must check Transactions in Process Direct for any previous unactioned study updates

If a Service Officer is:

• not trained to complete study updates:
• transfer the customer to the relevant payment queue if the update is payment affecting, or
• tell the customer it may take a few days before they are able to view the updates online
• trained to complete study updates, see Table 4

If a YA (student) or AUS customer contacts as they are unable to add a new course (including an intention to study), check if:

• an intention to study is already recorded, or
• the customer’s student end date is more than 13 weeks in the future

If the customer is unable to record an intention to study through their Centrelink online account, students skilled Service Officers must help with these updates.

See the following procedures for more details:

• Assessing study load requirements
• Coding new study details
• Youth Allowance student full-time study requirements
• Satisfying the activity test for customers who are intending to study for Austudy
• Changing study or training details

The agency's database has limited space for the education provider name, so abbreviations are common.

If the customers course name has been recorded incorrectly, Service Officers must update as appropriate.

See Coding new study details and Coding ABSTUDY education details.

Customers attempting to update their details online may be presented with This Service is not currently available, when:

• their record is locked, either by a Service Officer or an activity is being actioned
• an activity has been started by the customer on their record
• there are system issues

Service Officers must check the:

• Centrelink system to see if it is available
• Lock Override (LOVER) screen in the customer’s record to see if someone is in the record
• customer's Activity List (AL) screen for any started activities

If the customer is still unable to update their details, tell the customer to sign out and then close the browser.

If the customer is unable to make the necessary updates, Service Officers must update as appropriate.

Tell the customer the service will only show courses that finished within the last 13 weeks.

If a customer contacts about the progress of their uploaded documents, Service Officers must apologise for the delay and:

• check with the customer how long ago the form/document was uploaded and go to Document Tools
• in Customer First, enter the new course details on the Education Course Details (EDC) screen and update other screens as applicable. See Coding new study details and Coding ABSTUDY education details

Student Start-up Loans only show within the Manage Study Details service when the customer:

• adds a new course, or
• updates their current course, or
• changes course, and
• the new or current course is an approved scholarship course

If the customer does not need to update their study details, they can access the Student Start-up Loan online service to make changes to future SSL loan periods.

The Student Start-up Loan online service is in Other services on the Manage study details landing page.

Workload Manger (WLM) allocates a Change of Circumstance (CoC) transaction when a YA, AUS, PES, ABY, ABY PES, or TAP customer:

• updates their study details using:
• their Centrelink online account, or
• the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app, and
• the system does not complete the update

Review the information the customer has provided in their online study update available in the CoC transaction slider in Process Direct.

To review information and coding for the customer’s circumstances:

• Reducing to part time study for:
• ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES, see Changing study load from full-time to part-time or concessional study load for ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• YA, Austudy and PES, see Changing study load from full-time to part-time or concessional study load for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy or PES
• Ceasing or deferring study for:
• YA or Austudy see Payment of Youth Allowance (YA) and Austudy when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course
• ABSTUDY see Payment of ABSTUDY when a student is deferring or discontinuing study before the end of the course
• PES see Deferring or discontinuing study before end of course for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)
• Intention to study and course end date reviews for:
• YA and Austudy, see Processing end of course and intention to study reviews for Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA)
• PES, ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES, see Processing end of course reviews for ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and PES students
• Increasing study load for ABSTUDY students

Go to Step 2.

If a YA or ABY customer also receives TAP, follow the process for YA or ABY.

If the online study update allocated in Process Direct is:

• YA, ABY or AUS:
• ZCOC_STUDY_DETAILS, or
• ZCOC_STUDYDETAIL_ABY
• Go to Step 3
• for:
• PES: ZCOC_ZEPF_STUDY, or
• ABY PES: ZCOC_ZEPA_STUDY
• Go to Step 5
• TAP (only):
• ZCOC_ZTAP_STUDY, or
• ZCOC_ZTAP_STUDY_ABY
• Go to Step 6

Online study update ZCOC activities for YA, ABY and AUS with a status of In Progress or For Manual Action must be handed over to Customer First to be actioned, unless:

• no update to SSL have been made
• a Request for Information (RFI) is required for supporting documents, or
• the information supplied by the customer shows no update is required

When a Change of Circumstance (CoC) activity is allocated in Process Direct, review the transaction slider to view the study update details and Documents for scanned or uploaded study documents.

Is more information required to complete the update?

• Yes, request the information. If the required information is:
• supplied, go to Step 4
• not supplied, procedure ends here until the RFI falls due in 14 days + delivery
• No, go to Step 4

If an update is:

Required

• To prevent system issues, Service Officers must not complete any of the study update coding in Process Direct. These activities must be handed over to Customer First for processing
  To hand the CoC over to Customer First:
• for YA, AUS and ABY, select Process
• slect Assess. If an error shows, this will not impact the handover. Data will replicate to Customer First
• select the Handover to CF/CR from the More options button
• use Handover reason FUA - Function unavailable in PD
• select Save
• select Please click to view Claims Summary. This opens the online update details in a new window
• select Close

Selecting Handover to CF/CR before selecting Assess may result in the handed over activity having an incorrect date of receipt (DOR). If this occurs, hand the activity back to Process Direct and start the handover again

Go to the customer’s record in Customer First. Go to Step 5

Not required

• No handover is needed:
• use the Status button to change the status of the CoC to Cancelled
• record a DOC to explain what information was supplied and why no update was made. Procedure ends here

If more details are required for a YA, AUS or ABY customer after the CoC has been handed over to Customer First and the information cannot be collected by phone:

• the CoC must be handed back to Process Direct, and
• request the documents using the Request for Information (RFI)

For customers updating their study details:

• Go to the Education Course History (EDCH) screen
• Select the relevant line to update the Education Course Details (EDC) screen. See:
• Coding new study details
• Coding ABSTUDY education details
• For YA and AUS customers, update the Newstart Education Status (NES) screen if required
• Check all SSL decisions advised in the online study update. These are recorded via !SSLS. See Student Start-up Loan (SSL)
• If the customer has provided their Tax File Number (TFN) , check the TFN screen. If:
• The TFN field is blank or a CAT exemption is recorded, see Table 4 in Requesting a Tax File Number
• A TFN is already recorded, check the !SSLATO screen. If the !SSLATO screen displays:
  Not Initiated, no further action is required, and
  No Match, see Table 2, Step 10 in Student Start-up Loan
• Go to Activity Results (AR), check the outcome and finalise the activity
• Record details on a DOC

For YA, ABY and AUS only

If the online study update has been completed and there is a second REA activity is on AL with Refer to Change of Circumstance Interaction in Customer First in the activity notes, cancel this activity.

Procedure ends here.

Complete updates for TAP (only) customers in Process Direct. If an update is required, on the Customer Study Details (EDC) screen:

• select the relevant line to update the Education Course Details (EDC) screen. See Code new study details
• finalise the activity
• document the record

The TAP Circumstance Details (TPCD) screen does not need to be updated.

Procedure ends here.

Study updates that have been handed over to Customer First may be selected for QOL checking. This changes the status of the CoC in Process Direct to QMA.

Quality Management Officers (QMO) are allocated these work items to quality check or QOL checkers may select them when searching the QOL tool.

Note: the source and date of receipt of a handed over activity are prepopulated by the system. Service Officers cannot change these. Do not return activities for incorrect source or date of receipt.

If the work item has been:

• allocated in Process Direct, go to Step 2
• selected from the QOL tool, go to Step 3

QMOs allocated online study updates in Process Direct:

• cannot view any updates made by the Service Officer in Customer First
• may experience errors in the QMA workflow

See Quality Management Application (QMA) in Process Direct for actioning handed over activities.

Procedure ends here.

QOL checkers must follow the QOL process in Quality On Line.

If the activity is returned due to critical errors, reassign the work item in Process Direct to the original Service Officer to correct.

Procedure ends here.