Assessing satisfactory progress for Youth Allowance (YA) tertiary students 010-06070070

To meet one of the eligibility requirements for student payment, tertiary students studying full-time must be making satisfactory progress towards completing their course. An assessment of satisfactory progress determines if the student should have already finished their current course within the time allowed to complete the course. Students who have not reached or exceeded the allowable time, for that course, are generally considered to be making satisfactory progress and can be paid YA as a full-time student for their current course.

Note: the satisfactory progress rules in this procedure are for YA only and are significantly different from those for Austudy. For further information, see Assessing satisfactory progress for tertiary students for Austudy.

When Service Officers assess a student’s satisfactory progress in their course the determination is only about the time spent in their current course of study. Previous study in other courses of the same level can affect the student's qualification but is not specifically counted as time spent studying in their current course.

Sometimes, due to circumstances beyond their control, a student may not have completed their course within the allowable time. In such cases, some or all of the earlier study may be disregarded. For further information, see Disregarding previous study for Youth Allowance (YA).

Students may vary their workload throughout their course, choosing to study full-time student for some of the course and part-time in other study periods. Each study period of the course should be assessed separately, if possible.

To determine whether the student is making satisfactory progress, the amount of previous study in the current course is calculated as a percentage of a year's full-time study, using the following process:

• all previous study in this course (including any non-compulsory study periods) is divided into its academic periods (for example, semesters, years)
• assess each period to determine what percentage of a full year's study it represents
• a determination is made whether any of this study can be disregarded. For further information, see Disregarding previous study for Youth Allowance (YA)
• academic periods are then assessed to determine the percentage of a full year's study that they represent. Where study load aggregation has been applied to satisfy full-time study requirements, all study periods included in the aggregation assessment are counted as full-time
• the percentages are totalled
• the time allowed to complete the course is determined
• previous study in the current course is compared with the time allowed to complete the course

If the student has not reached the time allowed to complete the course, they are generally considered to be making satisfactory progress. They can be paid YA as a full-time student for their current course until they have reached the time allowed to complete the course.

If a tertiary student has completed a first course and starts a second course when the same institution offers an approved course which combines the two courses, then the allowable time is based on the normal duration of the combined course. For further information, see Determining allowable time/reasonable time for a course of study. When the allowable time is based on the normal duration of the combined course, the study undertaken in the first course is still disregarded.

For example: A customer undertaking a Bachelor of Law, after completing a Bachelor of Arts at an institution that offers a combination of both courses, will have the allowable time for the combined course (five and a half years) to complete the Bachelor of Law.

If a tertiary student has studied before at the same level as their current course, certain conditions may be imposed on their current course of study. If a customer has successfully completed a course at the same level as their current course, this previous course can be disregarded.

If a tertiary student failed or withdrew from a previous course at the same level, they can undertake a new course but may be required to enter into an activity agreement with an obligation to complete the current course within the allowable time for that course. The previous course is then disregarded.

If a tertiary student withdrew for a reason beyond their control, they can undertake a new course without entering into an activity agreement. See Disregarding previous study for Youth Allowance (YA).

Disregard previous study in the course, if a tertiary student failed or withdrew from a stand-alone Startup Year Course. Startup Year Courses do not impact a student’s satisfactory progress or contribute to allowable time calculations. This is because students can only receive up to 2 STARTUP-HELP loans. The loan limitation replaces the need to conduct an allowable time assessment for these courses.

Due to COVID-19, students may request an extension of allowable time as they were temporarily unable to study or reduced their study load below full-time. In some situations, education providers supported students by displaying failures as withdrawals on transcripts to avoid academic penalty.

When assessing satisfactory progress, evidence may already exist on a student’s record regarding the impact of COVID-19 on their study circumstances. Search the file for previous DOCs that include information about the customer being temporarily unable to study or having reduced their study load. If evidence exists for the corresponding period, this may be sufficient to disregard the withdrawal.

COVID-19 impacts varied nationally, not all states or territories were impacted by shutdowns or the durations varied. If no evidence exists, or documentation on the student’s record is insufficient to make a clear determination, students may be able to enter into an activity agreement.

Youth Allowance students can now attach academic transcripts as part of the online claim but are not required to do so as a compulsory task on the Next Steps page. When making satisfactory progress assessments, Service Officers should review the Claim Overview in Process Direct before requesting any academic transcripts. This is because the online claim will ask the student about their previous study and staff can use this information for the assessment.