Increasing study load for Austudy and Youth Allowance (YA) students 102-07020070

For customers studying part-time and are intending to return to full-time study, the date they will qualify for Austudy or YA as a full-time student would be the last day of part-time study plus one day.

The last day of part-time study would be the later of:

• the student's last examination date, or
• the last day the student was required to submit coursework, or
• the last day the student was required to attend a class, lecture or tutorial

For example, John was studying a second year of a Bachelor of Arts course. In Semester 2 John studied on a part-time basis. The last official examination date for the educational institution in Semester 2 is the 20th November. However, John has advised the last examination was held on the 15th November. John is intending to return to full-time study in Semester 1 of the third year. John would qualify for Austudy as an intending full-time student from the 16th November, the day following the last day required to complete the part-time course requirements for the semester.

Intending students are considered to be:

• meeting the study requirements as full-time students for Youth Allowance, or
• undertaking full time study requirements for Austudy

For Austudy and YA payments, an intending student is one who:

• is intending to continue in the same course that they are currently undertaking after a recognised holiday period, or
• is progressing into a new course of approved study following completion of their current course or study period

To be an intending student the customer must show that they intend, and have always intended, to enrol or re-enrol in the course for the next available study period, when enrolments in the course are next accepted.

Students who are not considered to be intending students are those who:

• have previously been working or looking for work and who did not study in the last available semester or study period
• have deferred their course for a period of time and are now planning to continue the course, or
• transferred to a payment as a job seeker at the end of their previous study and now plan to return to study

These customers will not be considered to be full-time students until they commence their course. Until they qualify for Austudy or YA (student), they should test their eligibility for another payment, for example, JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or YA (jobseeker).

If a customer is increasing their study load and/or changing their course of study or institution, a number of issues must be considered. The customer may have a choice to stay on their existing payment or claim a student payment. Service Officers should determine which payment would be of most benefit to the customer before directing them to claim. See Identifying the most beneficial payment for students or Australian Apprentices.