Approved courses of study for ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) 010-07010200

The initial stage in checking if a course/provider is approved is to go to the National Course Approvals sub-site. The Resources page contains a link to this page.

For customers to be regarded as students for the purposes of qualifying for one of the Services Australia administered payments for students, they must normally be undertaking an approved course of study as set out in the Ministerial Determination of Education Providers and Courses. Some different or additional requirements for approval of courses apply to ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) but most courses undertaken by students eligible for ABSTUDY, ABSTUDY PES or AIC need to satisfy the requirements of the Ministerial Determination.

Note: if a course becomes unapproved while the customer is receiving payment, the customer will continue to receive their payment until the end of the course or until there is a break in their entitlement.

For a course to be approved, both the course content and the provider providing the course, must normally meet certain requirements. The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency or the relevant state/territory authorities determine these requirements. Services Australia is not involved in this accreditation process. For Services Australia purposes, there is no minimum duration for a course to be approved.

From 1 January 2018 to be an approved course of study for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES, Vocational Educational Training (VET) courses that are at diploma level or higher must be:

• a course approved for the VET Student Loan (VSL), and
• undertaken with a provider approved to provide VSL courses

For a higher education course to be approved for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES it must be undertaken with a provider that is approved/authorised to offer the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP).

Note: AIC, Indigenous Special Courses and ABSTUDY Lawful Custody award are excluded from the VSL and HELP requirement.

ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES

All mainstream courses approved under the Ministerial Determination of Education Providers and Courses are normally approved for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES.

Some courses that are outside the scope of the Ministerial Determination can also be approved for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES as Indigenous special courses.

ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES also have some additional course approval requirements on top of those set out in mainstream requirements of the Ministerial Determination. Courses that meet the requirements of the Ministerial Determination, and attract Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and PES, maybe an excluded course for ABSTUDY.

The ABSTUDY course approval criteria applies to all forms of ABSTUDY assistance, including for students just claiming non-means tested assistance such as Incidentals Allowance.

If a student is ineligible for ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY PES because the course is an excluded course for ABSTUDY purposes, the student may be eligible for YA, Austudy or PES if the course meets the requirements of the Ministerial Determination. However, students who have completed secondary schooling and are qualified for entry to higher education are not eligible for AIC, making tertiary courses of higher education beyond the scope of AIC.

Courses that are not available to all members of the Australian community are normally excluded courses for ABSTUDY purposes. Courses that are not accredited or offered by a provider that is not a registered education provider, are also normally Excluded Courses.

An exception to these exclusions applies to an Indigenous special course.

Note: if a course is being assessed to see if it is an Indigenous special course but is an excluded course for any other reason, it cannot be approved for ABSTUDY. However if the course is accredited by an education provider, or relevant State/Territory authority or Australian Government it can be an approved course for other student payments and the student should test their eligibility for them.

The decision to approve courses for ABSTUDY is made by the Course Assessment and Liaison Officer (CALO), in relation to meeting the 'mainstream' requirements.

The CALO will escalate any course that need further investigation for exclusion or as an Indigenous Special Course to the Level 3 ABSTUDY helpdesk.

As almost all courses meeting the mainstream requirements also meet the specific ABSTUDY course approval requirements under the ABSTUDY Policy Manual, the CALO will escalate the course to the Level 3 ABSTUDY Policy Helpdesk to complete a separate assessment on a selective basis to ensure courses meet the specific ABSTUDY requirements, including not being an 'excluded course'. A separate assessment is only required where:

• ABSTUDY Away from Base Assistance is being claimed for the course and there is a concern that it may be wholly or substantially comprised of away from base activities that would make it an excluded course. An Away from Base Officer in the ABSTUDY Smart Centre can refer such a course for a separate assessment if they have a reasonable belief that it may be an 'excluded course'. Very few courses with away from base activities have a substantial component of these activities. If the away from base component of a course is clearly not substantial (that is, doesn't exceed 80% of the total course content), the course will be considered an approved course for ABSTUDY and will not require a referral to the Level 2 ABSTUDY Policy helpdesk to see if it needs to be referred for an assessment
• there is reasonable doubt about whether a course meets the specific ABSTUDY requirements, that is, may be an excluded course, an ABSTUDY Service Officer can contact the CALO to see if it needs to be referred for an assessment

Where a course is assessed as an ABSTUDY excluded course, a CALO will, on the advice of the Level 3 ABSTUDY Policy helpdesk, record it as 'Not Approved for ABSTUDY' in the assessed courses on the education provider's page on the National Course Approvals sub-site.

Most courses for which AIC is paid are accredited primary, secondary or tertiary courses and satisfy the requirements of the Ministerial Determination. However, students who have completed secondary schooling and are qualified for entry to higher education are not eligible for AIC, making tertiary courses of higher education beyond the scope of AIC.

An approved course for AIC can also include ungraded level study (including 'living skills' training) approved by state or territory education or health authorities. An approved provider (where these courses are undertaken) includes a residential provider or non-residential special school that caters for children with disabilities, psychological, emotional or behavioural problems. State or territory education or health authorities must approve the providers. These courses and providers would normally be outside the scope of the Ministerial Determination.

Some universities are delivering combined higher education qualifications (for example, Bachelor degrees, Graduate Certificates or Graduate Diplomas) with Masters degrees.

For ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES, all accredited Masters and Doctorate courses (except if the course is an excluded course for ABSTUDY purposes) are approved courses. All Masters components of accredited courses combining Bachelor and Masters degrees (that are approved ABSTUDY courses) are also approved courses for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY PES. The restriction on the scope of approved Masters courses (applying to YA, Austudy and PES) set out in the Schedule 3 of the Course Determination Instrument does not apply to ABSTUDY or ABSTUDY PES.

Study details are to be coded on the student's record for the full duration of the course and changed accordingly depending on the Level of the combined course, for example, a 5 year combined Bachelor/Masters course may have the first 3 years as a Bachelor level, and then the final 2 years as a Masters level. Correct coding will ensure the student receives the appropriate rate of payment under the Master and Doctorate Award for the final 2 years.

A customer who is undertaking a Doctorate level course (other than one with exit points for lower qualifications, see 'Exit points for lower qualification' in Approved courses of study for Youth Allowance (YA), Austudy and Pensioner Education Supplement (PES)) is not eligible for assistance under any payment type other than ABSTUDY. Some courses may appear to be doctoral level courses from the title, but are in fact approved as Masters courses (for example, Juris Doctor). If in any doubt, check the current approved Masters list. The Resources page links to this list.

When making an unfavourable decision, speak to the customer:

• explain the decision
• give them a chance to provide more information, and
• advise their review and appeal rights

Make 2 genuine attempts to contact the customer before finalising the decision.