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ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance (SFA) (Group 2) 010-02050110

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This document explains School Fees Allowance (SFA) (Group 2). It is available for students and their parent(s)/guardian(s) to help meet the costs of the school fees levied by the approved education provider. This includes home schooled, distance education students and students on overseas exchanges whose education provider levy fees.

Eligibility

The student must:

Note: Secondary boarding students must reside in a boarding school, a private boarding arrangement or in a hostel that is a signatory to either the Standard Hostels Agreement or the Bilateral Management Agreement.

Payment of SFA (Group 2) means tested component may effect a parent/guardian's entitlement to Family Tax Benefit. See Family Tax Benefit (FTB) child of a person.

Claiming

ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance is automatically calculated and paid as part of a customer's new claim for ABSTUDY as a boarding student.

Students or Australian Apprentices can submit via:

Students must lodge an invoice to be paid or receipt to claim reimbursement of school fees if they:

  • are attending a school and living with a private boarder or
  • are living at home and attending a non-government school because there is none locally or
  • were a student who was a boarder but now is a day student due to parents moving locally

Rate

The SFA (Group 2) payment rate has two components - one is income tested and the other is not.

The income tested component of SFA (Group 2) will be reduced by The Parental Means Test.

The Personal Income Test does not affect the rate of SFA (Group 2).

The Resources page has a link to A guide to Australian Government payments.

Payment

Payments may be made to:

  • the school or
  • the person incurring the expenses

Certain circumstances may affect SFA (Group 2) entitlement and payee. This may include:

  • Student changes or ceases study - Payments of School Fees Allowance in respect of the student for a year may total up to the maximum rate of School Fees Allowance
  • Transfer of unused SFA (Group 2) to pay boarding costs - Residual SFA (Group 2) may be used to meet outstanding board fees where the student is boarding at a school or in a hostel that is a signatory to either the Standard Hostels Agreement or the Bilateral Management Agreement

The Resources page contains examples of the SFA (Group 2) invite letter to a private school, a link to the 'CEPS-Third Party Payments' form, examples of how to manually calculate payments for boarding students and an ABSTUDY Living Allowance and School Fees Group 2 calculation template.

Rates and Thresholds