Satisfying the activity test for customers who are intending to study for Austudy 010-04050020

Continuing/intending students are considered to be satisfying the full time study requirements for full-time students. This means, in some circumstances, they are considered to be a full-time student during study breaks, such as semester/trimester holidays.

If a customer is not a continuing/intending student, they will not meet student full time study requirements until they commence their course.

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

• did not study in or complete the last available semester or study period immediately prior to claiming
• did not study in an approved course in the last available study period, or
• deferred their course for a period of time and are now planning to continue the course

These customers will not be considered to be a full-time student until they start their course. Until they qualify for Austudy they may need to test their eligibility for another payment, for example, JobSeeker Payment, if they require assistance before the course commences.

Receipt of JobSeeker Payment (JSP) does not prevent a customer from being a continuing/intending student. Customers transferring from JSP who are not continuing/intending students continue to receive this payment until they start study, as long as they continue to meet the JSP mutual obligation requirements. While these customers would normally be expected to look for all suitable work, for the interim period they may satisfy the mutual obligation requirements by looking for suitable work that would not prevent them from starting study (for example, part-time or casual work).

Customers transferring from a Social Security pension to Austudy may be considered eligible for Austudy up to 14 days before starting study. For this brief period they are considered to be satisfying the Austudy full time study requirements.