ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) qualifications 010-05050000

A student is eligible for ABSTUDY PES if they:

• meet the criteria for Schooling B, Tertiary or Masters and Doctorate Award
• are receiving 1 of the qualifying payments for Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and ABSTUDY PES
• meet the general eligibility criteria for ABSTUDY

Note: full time Australian Apprentices are not entitled to ABSTUDY PES. Part-time Australian Apprentices who are undertaking qualifying study may qualify for ABSTUDY PES based on their course, as they can be assessed as a student and not an Australian Apprentice.

ABSTUDY PES customers are required to undertake full-time studies, unless one of the following study load concessions apply:

• disability study load concession
• pensioner study load concession or
• two-thirds study load concession for ABSTUDY

Note: those students who are undertaking a workload of less than 25% do not qualify for ABSTUDY PES, but may qualify for the ABSTUDY part-time award.

Other PES payments are available to students who qualify for assistance under either Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) qualifications or Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Scheme Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) qualifications.

Customers can choose which PES payment to apply for, however care should be exercised in offering customers a choice between the PES schemes as there are differences in additional payments available:

• ABSTUDY PES recipients
• Incidentals Allowance
• Additional Incidentals Allowance
• School Fees Allowance (Group 2) including the redistribution of fees to support boarding fees
• Away from Base Assistance
• Residential Costs Option
• PES recipients
• Education Entry Payment

Individual customer’s circumstances should be considered and sufficient information given to ensure customers can make an informed decision.

Customers who have transferred to JobSeeker Payment (JSP) or Youth Allowance (YA) who were:

• in receipt of Disability Support Pension and have been assessed as having a partial capacity to work or
• who are no longer in receipt of Parenting Payment Single (PPS) due to their youngest child turning 14 years of age, and

who were in receipt of ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) immediately before they transferred to JSP or YA will only remain eligible for ABSTUDY PES while they:

• remain in the same category (i.e. partial capacity to work or single principal carer), and
• are still completing the same course of education or study for which they were receiving PES while receiving DSP or PPS

Services Australia administers and delivers ABSTUDY PES on behalf of the Department of Social Services (DSS).