Assessing satisfactory progress for tertiary students for Austudy 010-04050070

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About your Austudy payment.

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Due to the amount of study you have undertaken at the same tertiary level as your current course, the Austudy allowable time for your current course will end on {***ALLOWABLE END DATE***}. This means, under section 569H of the Social Security Act 1991, your Austudy will stop on {***ALLOWABLE END DATE*** + 1 Day}.

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The decision has been made from the information you provided in your claim and any information you may have previously provided to us.

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We may consider disregarding previous studies in certain circumstances. For example, if you failed or withdrew from subjects due to: illness, circumstances beyond your control, time spent in an uncompleted course which has permanently discontinued, or time spent studying in a course that has been completed, but because of an illness, you cannot use the qualification in any suitable trade or profession.

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To disregard any of your previous studies, you need to provide your statement of results/academic transcript for all tertiary level study undertaken. You also need to write a statement of your situation, for example, what caused your failure/s, and provide any supporting documentation you have, such as medical evidence. You must provide this within 13 weeks of the date your Austudy is expected to stop. If you have already provided this information, you do not need to do so again, however based on our most recent assessment, your eligibility for Austudy will stop on the date listed above.

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You can provide this information in your online account by: signing in to my.gov.au and selecting your Centrelink online account or using the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app. You can upload your documents (up to 10 MB per file), by selecting 'Upload documents' from the home page. You can also provide information by mail to the address at the top of this letter, or by visiting one of our service centres.

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Dividing a course into academic periods

Students will not always maintain a steady work load for the duration of a long course. A full-time student may choose to do some of the course on a part-time basis and vice versa. Each section of the course should be looked at separately if possible.

Most courses are divided into academic periods. The standard divisions are:

• whole years,
• semesters (2 periods per year), or
• trimesters (3 periods per year)

It is easy to look at each period separately in these cases but some courses, particularly those offered by private providers, do not have any divisions. These types of courses often have a rolling start date (for example, the course starts any Monday) and will finish a set number of weeks later. In these cases the course is looked at as a whole.

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Disregarding previous study

The general rule for Austudy is that a student can continue to be paid up to the point at which they should have completed the course. For example, a student in a three year bachelor degree who has already completed three and a half years of study at that level would be expected to have completed the course. The delay in completing the course is not always the fault of the student. For this reason, allowance is made to disregard some, or all, earlier study in certain circumstances.

The following periods can be disregarded:

• A failed year (or part of a year) if failure was due to illness or other circumstances beyond the control of the student
• Time spent in a course that has been permanently discontinued because of circumstances beyond the control of the student
• Time spent studying in a course that has been completed but which, because of illness, the customer cannot use in any of the trades or professions for which the course is appropriate
• Study in a course which was not at the time approved for a Commonwealth student income support scheme
• Study for which the student could not have been paid income support due to academic progress rules
• Study in a course which is the normal prerequisite for the current course
• Any study in a VET course where the normal length of the course is one year or less
• Study undertaken in a course more than ten years ago unless the course was subsequently completed less than ten years ago
• Study at a foreign institution (unless it counts towards an approved Australian course), and
• Study from which the student withdrew if the institution did not count that withdrawal as a failure

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Courses completed previously

A completed course is counted as the lesser of:

• the normal length of the course (minimum time), or
• the time it took to complete the course

Example 1: David has completed a three year Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree over four and a half years full-time. There were no particular reasons for this or extenuating circumstances and none of the study can be disregarded.

• If David applies for another course at the Bachelor level David's BA will be counted as 3 years of previous study as the normal length of the completed course is 3 years
• David enrols in another Bachelor level degree for 4 years, as the previous study is counted as 3 years and the current study is for 4 year, David is eligible to be paid for another 1.5 years. This is because the previous study can be deducted from the current study (3 – 4 = 1) 1 year plus allowable time for the current course of 1 semester/term

Example 2: By undertaking more than the normal study load each semester, Wendy completed her BA in two and a half years.

• If Wendy applies for another course at the Bachelor level, Wendy's BA (which is normally a three year course) will be counted as two and a half years, as this is the time she took to complete the course

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Exceptions to study undertaken more than 10 years ago

Studies undertaken more than 10 years ago that are part of a course completed within the last 10 years are not to be disregarded.

Example: John is scheduled to commence a Bachelor of Business course in Semester 1, 2015. John has completed previous study at the same level when he completed a Bachelor of Science in December 2005. John's study history/record is as follows:

• 2003 - Bachelor of Science (first year)
• 2004 - Bachelor of Science (second year)
• 2005 - Bachelor of Science ( third year - degree completed)
• 2006 to 2014 - Did not undertake study
• 2015 - Bachelor of Business *New Course*

John's new Bachelor of Business course is a 3 year degree and is comprised of semester based subjects (2 semesters per year). The maximum allowable time for this degree is 3.5 years.

As John has completed study at an equivalent level within the past 10 years from the commencement of John's current course, all of the previous study is taken into account at the commencement of the 2015 Bachelor of Business degree. This is because John's previous study was not completed more than 10 years ago.

John's allowable time for his Bachelor of Business degree is 3.5 years. The normal amount of time for this Bachelor of Science course is 3 years. This is subtracted from his allowable time for his current course. This leaves John with 0.5 years of allowable time to complete his Bachelor of Business degree.

Once John has exceeded 0.5 years of allowable time, the decision cannot be reviewed at a later date to disregard the previous study. For example, if another claim is lodged while still undertaking the same course, the allowable time calculation cannot be reset. This means John is payable up to the day before he commences semester 1, in 2016, as John would not have exceeded allowable time at the commencement of semester 2, 2015.

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Determining percentage study load

To calculate the total amount of study for a number of academic periods it is easiest to measure each period as a percentage of a whole academic year. Therefore, typically a semester's full-time study load would equal 50% of a year, a trimester's 33.3% and so on. If the study in a period was part-time then the appropriate fraction would be used (for example, a student undertakes two subjects out of the usual four in a semester - this would equal 25% of a full years study). The study load percentage for a specific study period may vary depending on how the institution structures their enrolments. Therefore, it is important to check the National Course Approvals sub-site to confirm the relevant course structure.

For example, where an institution offers 3 trimesters in a year, but the third period is optional, the full-time study load may be 50% for trimester 1 and 50% for trimester 2.

Note: a student who is undertaking at least 75% of the normal study load (or 66% if a study load concession has been granted) in a period is considered to be a full-time student for payment purposes. They would also be counted as a full-time student for previous study calculations. For example, a study load of four of the normal five subjects in a semester is counted as 50% of the year's study load (not 40%). If a customer overloads in a semester or year, it is counted as 50% (0.5) or 100% (1.0) respectively, and not the overload figure. 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.

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Determining the time spent in previous study for 25% concessional study load students

A 25% study load concession can be granted for all or part of a course. This means students granted this concession can fit into one of the following three categories when determining the amount of time spent in previous study:

• Students who have had the concession for their whole course
• Students who have the concession now but did not have it for any of their previous study
• Students who no longer have the concession but did have it for at least some of their previous study

Note: the minimum time rule that was in force when the previous concessional study was undertaken may be used to calculate study time and minimum time concession if it is more beneficial to the student to do so. The section titled 'Minimum time concession for previous study' in the Guide to Social Security Law, 3.3.4.40, Austudy & Students with Disabilities, shows the rules that were used up until the commencement of the new Austudy scheme in July 1998.

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Students who have had the 25% concession for their whole course

The allowable time is normally twice the minimum time for the course (but may be up to four times the minimum time under certain circumstances) and previous study is counted as if it were full-time. This means that where allowable time is double minimum time and the student undertook only 25% of the normal study load they will reach allowable time half way into the course. Eligibility would therefore cease before the study was completed.

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Students who have the 25% concession now but did not have it for any of their previous study

Students may have previously studied on a full-time basis, a part-time basis or as a 66% concession study load student. The allowable time may be anything between twice and four times the minimum time depending on circumstances. Previous study is multiplied by this same factor. Therefore, if the allowable time for a course is now four times the minimum time for that course, one year of study already undertaken in a three year course (one third of the total) becomes the equivalent of four years of the allowable twelve (again one third of the total).

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Students who no longer have the 25% concession but did have it for at least some of their previous study

Where a student previously undertook a 25% concessional study load, this study is taken to be equal to the minimum time it would have taken a full-time student to complete it. Therefore, six subjects taken over two years would be counted as one and a half four-subject semesters (or 75% of a full years study load).

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Combined Bachelor's/Master's degree

The allowable time for a combined Bachelor/Master's degree should be based on the minimum duration of the combined degree.

For example, a combined Bachelor of Science/ Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at Murdoch University has a minimum duration of 5 years so the allowable time would be 5.5 years. The combined degree is not split into the Bachelor's component and the Master's component. To determine satisfactory progress compare time spent at any course that is Level B and Level M against the allowable time for the entire combined course.