Determining progress and duration of assistance for ABSTUDY 010-02080040

Reasonable time rules for ABSTUDY customers apply to customers studying secondary non-school or tertiary level courses. Reasonable time is related to the normal length of the student's current course (the normal length of a course is also known as minimum time). To determine whether a student has reached this limit, the student's study in the current course is assessed. Study in previous courses may also be included. If the student is not making sufficient progress towards completing their course then ABSTUDY may cease.

Limits of assistance rules do not apply to studies other than Statement of Attainment, Certificate levels 1 and 2, Bachelor, Masters or Doctorate level courses.

ABSTUDY assistance is limited to:

• four years of study for any combination of Statement of Attainment, Certificate 1 or 2 level courses, and
• one completed undergraduate Bachelor degree, or time equivalent to one completed undergraduate Bachelor degree (including Honours, Masters qualifying year/s, combined degrees and/or prerequisite studies), and
• one of the following three options:
• one (or time equivalent to one) completed degree at Master level and one (or time equivalent to one) completed at Doctorate level
• two (or time equivalent to two) completed degrees at Masters level, or
• two (or time equivalent to two) completed degrees at Doctorate level

Where a student has reached or exceeded the limit of assistance for a particular level of study, no form of ABSTUDY assistance is payable for further studies at that level.

When assessing eligibility for ABSTUDY it is necessary to consider:

• how much previous study the student has done (in addition to the current study)
• whether any of that study can be disregarded
• whether addition to/extension of reasonable time should be allowed

The ABSTUDY progress rules limit the length of time a student may receive ABSTUDY to study in a particular course. Where a student has reached or exceeded the reasonable time and/or limit of assistance for study in a course, ABSTUDY is no longer payable.