First day of attendance for ABSTUDY secondary boarders 010-02060050

ABSTUDY secondary school students must have their payments delivered to the school or hostel where they are boarding:

• at a school
• in an approved ABSTUDY Homestay arrangement, or
• at a hostel which is a signatory to the ABSTUDY Hostels Agreement

ABSTUDY payments:

• to boarding institutions are delivered via 2 boarding instalments each school term
• are delivered fortnightly in arrears to students who are in a private board arrangement

Payment on Advice (PoA) is the term used for the process that requires schools and boarding institutions to advise Services Australia of the first day of attendance in a term for ABSTUDY secondary boarding students in order to receive the first ABSTUDY boarding instalment payment in a school term. Payment of the second instalment in a term is automatic for eligible students and does not use the Payment on Advice process.

PoA does not occur for students who board:

• privately, or
• at hostels that are not a signatory to the ABSTUDY Hostels Agreement

See Payment of Away from Home rate for ABSTUDY.

Before ABSTUDY entitlements are paid for a secondary boarder, Services Australia must check if the student has commenced at the boarding institution each term.

A student is entitled to the Away from Home rate:

• from the first day of the term entitlement period for the term in which the student starts living away from home, and
• provided the student's first day of attendance at the education provider is by the third Friday of the term

If the student's first day of attendance is after the third Friday of term, the Away from Home rate is payable from the date the student starts living away from the permanent home.

A student's first day of attendance can be provided using any of the following:

• Payment on Advice
• First or last day of attendance for ABSTUDY Away from Home students (SY106)
• Verbal
• Email
• Fax

A PoA request is sent to the school or boarding institution (based on where the customer's payment is paid) in the second week of each school term. The request contains a One Time Access Code (OTAC) for schools/boarding institutions to log into the Education Institutions eService (the eService), and provides term commencement dates for ABSTUDY students.

A boarding student processed as eligible for the Away from Home rate after the SAS Extraction Date for the term will need to have their first day of attendance checked manually with the school or boarding institution. The Resources page contains:

• Payment on Advice Release request dates attachments with SAS Extraction Dates
• a copy of the Payment on Advice OTAC letter

PoA is a debt prevention process that:

• ensures accuracy of payment to schools and boarding institutions, and
• reduces instances of overpayments

PoA is intended to be the process of delivering the payment. It is not intended to be the:

• actual assessment of Away from Home rate, or
• coding of Away from Home rate

Upon receipt of advice from a school/boarding institution of student's first day of attendance, a reassessment of a student's eligibility or entitlement may, however, need to be undertaken prior to the actual release or cancellation of payment.

An OTAC:

• is unique to:
• a school/boarding institution
• the term/year
• the ABSTUDY Payment on Advice process
• will allow multiple entries to the eService but will expire once information is submitted to Services Australia
• can be re-issued upon request by the school/boarding institution

If Services Australia issues a new OTAC (if OTAC was lost or a new OTAC is issued for the next term), then the previous OTAC will expire.

In the eService, schools/boarding institutions can view:

• each of their estimated ABSTUDY boarding instalment payments for the term for students, and
• the delivery dates for these payments

Schools/boarding institutions can save information in the eService. Encourage them to continually save data as entered.

The ABSTUDY Payment on Advice Student Input screen will allow all information to be completed. However, a timeout message will display after 15 minutes of non-keying. If this occurs:

• the information coded in the eService will be lost, and
• the school/boarding institution will need to reuse their OTAC to log back into the eService and re-code the information

Once the data has been submitted to Services Australia:

• no further changes can be made to the data
• any amendments will need to be submitted to Services Australia using the First or last day of attendance for ABSTUDY Away from Home students (SY106) form. This form is available on the Services Australia website

When each payment via instalment is issued, the school/boarding institution will be advised of the payment via their regular Group Deduction Notice (GDN). To view or reissue the GDN refer to Centrepay Business interactions.

School/boarding institutions registered for online services will be able to view their GDN online. For further information, see Centrepay Business interactions.