Assessing satisfactory progress for tertiary students for Austudy 010-04050070

Satisfactory progress is measured against the student's current course of study. This can be impacted by previous study at the same level.

Has the student undertaken previous study in their current course or in another course of study at the same level?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, as the student has not fallen behind in their studies, progress is considered satisfactory and no further assessment is required. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Contact Local Peer Support (LPS) for help with complex allowable time and satisfactory progress assessments.

Students are asked to provide previous study details in the online claim. This can be used to determine allowable time. To access this information, go to the Claim Overview in Process Direct.

Do not use the TCSIACT screen to determine current or prior qualification to payment, including when assessing allowable time or appeals. The TCSIACT screen is only used to support customer enquiries relating to Student Payment Reviews.

Before requesting academic transcripts, the following must be considered:

• customer cannot explain their previous study
• previous study assessment is complex, or
• customer studied part-time in their current course and assessment is required for the remaining allowable time for their current course. This is only required if the responses in the claim show that the customer will not complete the course in the normal allowable time period
• previous study undertaken within the 10 years before the current course start date at the same level

Based on the information provided, is it clear the customer:

• can be granted now, and a transcript requested post-grant?
• does not have any remaining allowable time, and must be rejected?

Where the customer indicates they will continue to study beyond their allowable time end date:

• grant the payment coding an Allowable Time End Date:
• in Process Direct on the Customer Study Details (EDC) screen
• in Customer First on the Education Course Details (EDC) screen, and
• where appropriate, request a transcript after finalising the claim

If considering requesting a transcript, attempt to call the customer and request them to provide enough verbal information to make a reasonable assessment for allowable time/aggregation of study.

Calculate the amount of time spent studying (including any non-compulsory study periods) at the same tertiary level as the current course. Consider the following:

• Students are considered to have undertaken 100% of the study load for a semester or year if they studied at least 75% (or 66% if concession was granted) of the normal amount of full-time study including where a customer overloads their study load. For example, if a customer undertook 125% of the normal full-time workload in a year, it is counted as 100% (1.0) of the workload
• Students who have undertaken 2 or more courses over the same period in the past, for example 2 bachelor courses undertaken concurrently, the study load counted for each period must not exceed 100%
• Part-time study is calculated on the basis of the percentage of a year's full-time study
• All study periods included in a study load aggregation assessment are counted as full-time
• Completed courses are counted as the lesser of:
• the normal length of the course (minimum time), or
• the time it took to complete the course
• Startup Year Courses are not included in allowable time assessments where the course is a stand-alone course. See Startup Year Courses

To calculate the customer's previous study at the same level:

• where a study load aggregation has been applied, all included study periods are counted as full-time
• divide the previous study into its academic periods (for example, semesters, years). See the Resources page for more information on academic periods
• determine if any study can be disregarded. See the Resources page for more information on disregarding previous study
• determine the percentage of a full year's study that the period to be disregarded represents, include any study load concessions (25% or 66%) applied for previous study. Care needs to be taken when the student is granted a 25% study load concession for current study or was granted a concession for any previous study. The Resources page has more information
• add all the individual study periods together to get the amount of full-time study the student has completed. For example, the student has studied part-time for 3 semesters (each semester is 25% of a full year study load) and one semester full-time (50% of the full year). In total they have studied 125% of a full year's study load which is equivalent to one and a quarter years of full-time study

Go to Step 4

To determine the allowable time for the student's current course, see Determining allowable time/reasonable time for a course of study.

Go to Step 5

A determination of the student's progress can be made using any of the following dates:

• the day the student enrols (or re-enrols) in their course,
• the first day of the next study period, or
• the date the student's enrolment changes

Customer's that have exceeded their allowable time on one of these assessment dates are only eligible for Austudy until the day before the assessment date. For example, where the satisfactory progress assessment shows the customer has exceeded their allowable time on the first day of the next study period, the customer can be paid Austudy up to the day before the study period start date.

For new claim lodgements, the claim is to be rejected if the customer has exceeded allowable time before any of the following dates:

• date of claim
• student start date, or
• course start date

Compare the amount of the customer's previous study at the same level (determined in Step 3) with the allowable time for their current course (determined in Step 4). If the student's total previous study at the same level is:

• Greater than the allowable time, go to Step 6
• Lesser than or equal to the allowable time, go to Step 7

The student has already exceeded their allowable time. Austudy cannot be paid for any further study at this level.

If the customer:

• has lodged a new claim, and they have exceeded their allowable time before the date of claim, student start date or course start date, the claim must be rejected ATR - Allowable Time Reached, see Table 2
• is currently receiving Austudy, go to Step 7

Use the result of the calculation at Step 5 to assist in coding the Allowable Time End Date in:

• Process Direct on Customer Study Details (EDC) screen, or
• Customer First on Education Course Details (EDC) screen

Code the Allowable Time End Date: as the date the customer has exceeded or will exceed their allowable time. This will:

• automatically suspend the Austudy payment for 13 weeks from the Allowable Time End Date. After 13 weeks if the payment has not been restored it will automatically cancel
• identify if the customer is eligible for any other income support payment

If the customer wants to test their eligibility for JobSeeker Payment (JSP) and Austudy is still suspended for Allowable Time Reached SUS/ATR status:

• code the NES screen:
• Event Date: date the payment was suspended (ATR + 1)
• Student Status: Not a student (NST)
• Educ Level Attained: update with the highest qualification attained
• Year12/Equiv Verified: code Not verified (NVE), or leave the current verification status if previously coded

In Process Direct or Customer First on the Education Details History (EDC/EDCH) screen, update:

• Student End Date: to match the Allowable Time End Date
• within the same activity, cancel the payment via the Benefit Action (BA) screen
• Date of event: matches the date used to suspend AUS
• Reason code: ATR. See Cancellation of Austudy or Youth Allowance (YA) students and Australian Apprentices

Where JSP is granted and the customer is still undertaking study, the study may be included as a mutual obligation requirement. This is at the discretion of the Employment Services Provider, tell the customer to contact them to discuss further.

The customer is currently making satisfactory progress as the total previous study for the course is less than or equal to the allowable time.

The result of the calculation at Step 5 shows the length of time the customer may be eligible to receive payments for, in the current course. The Resources page has more information.

For semester/trimester/year based courses the allowable time end date is, the date on which allowable time will be exceeded. This date may vary depending on the customer's circumstances.

If the customer will:

• continue studying - the allowable time end date will be the day before the first day of the next study period
• not continue studying - the allowable time end date will be the last day of the current study period

Update the Allowable Time End Date: field in:

• Process Direct, on Customer Study Details (EDC) screen, or
• Customer First, on Education Course Details (EDC) screen

Is the calculated allowable time end date before the student end date recorded on the EDC screen?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, go to Step 10

Advise the customer of their allowable time end date. In Customer First:

• Go to Workspace
• Go to Guided Procedures
• Select the Generic Letter guided procedure
• Letter Type: select Q999
• Business Line: select Students
• Letter Description: select AUS allowable time
• Delete the populated text
• See the Resources page for approved text to be added to the Guided Procedure
• Copy all of the approved text, including the information in [brackets], and paste it into the Guided Procedure
• Replace the text {***ALLOWABLE END DATE***} with the Allowable Time End Date recorded on the EDC screen, in the format DD MONTH YEAR. For example, 30 November 2023
• Replace the text {***ALLOWABLE END DATE*** + 1 Day} with the Allowable Time End Date +1 Day. for example, 1 December 2023
• Create DOC: select Completed
• Finalise Letter: select Yes
• Print: select Central
• Select Finish to complete the process

Note: Quality Management Officers (QMO) undertaking this update as part of a QMA must complete the Generic Letter update once the activity is finalised.

Record the decision:

• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > Allowable Time Assessment, or
• Type 'Allowable' into the Search field:
• Select Allowable Time Assessment from the available menu options
• Select the Display on Access (DOA) DOC button, if not already ticked. This automatically populates the DOA DOC field with the correct reason of 'SCC', which does not require an expiration date. See Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

Make sure the DOC includes:

• the name, academic level and allowable time of the student's current course
• a summary of the student's previous study, semester by semester (including all other levels of study if this is available - although it will not be counted in this assessment it may be useful if the customer applies for another course under another payment)
• details of any study that has been disregarded and the reasons for disregarding the study
• the total of the previous study, and
• the period of payability (if any) that still remains

Austudy cannot be paid for any further study at the same level when the student has exceeded their allowable time.

Reject the claim - Allowable Time Reached REJ/ATR

Code the Allowable Time End Date for a student that is:

• starting a new course, as the day before the Course Start Date
• continuing study, as the day before the first day of the next study period

The error E949NS - Allowable Time can't be before Inst Course Start Date occurs if the Allowable Time End Date is before the Course Start Date.

Did the error E949NS - Allowable Time can't be before Inst Course Start Date display?

• Yes, go to Step 2
• No, go to Step 4

Check if the customer:

• has exceeded the allowable time at the date of claim submission
• is a continuing student
• is commencing a new course, and
• has lodged their claim prior to the course start date

Do all of the above apply to the customer and E949NS is occurring?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• No, on the EDC screen key:
• Course Start Date: one day before the actual course start date
• Student Start Date: course start date
• Allowable Time End Date: one day before the actual course start date
• Go to Step 4

On the EDC screen key:

• Course Start Date: one day before the Participation Status End Date (PSED)
• Student Start Date: the actual course start date
• Allowable Time End Date: one day before the PSED

Once all details have been updated the system will automatically reject the claim:

• Return to SWE, the Message Log displays any errors. All errors must be fixed before assessing the claim. For help, see Using Digital Assistant Roxy in Process Direct
• Select: Assess, check the outcome is correct on the ELD screen
• Select: Finish
• Record details in the finalisation DOC
• Select: Finalise

If the claim has not auto generated a DOC (for an abridged claim or where the claim is both granted and cancelled in the same activity), create a DOC. See Online Document Recording (ODR).

Record the decision:

• Use Fast Note - select Auto Text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > Allowable Time Assessment, or
• Search: Allowable:
• Select Allowable Time Assessment
• Select the Display on Access (DOA) DOC button, if not already ticked. This automatically populates the DOA DOC field with the correct reason of SCC, which does not require an expiration date. See Creating, reviewing and deleting documents (including Fast Notes and DOA DOCs)

The DOC must include:

• the name, academic level and allowable time of the student's current course
• a summary of the student's previous study, semester by semester. Include all other levels of study if available. (This is useful if the customer applies for another course under another payment and is not counted in the assessment)
• details of any study that has been disregarded and the reasons for disregarding the study
• the total amount of time used for the previous study

Procedure ends here