Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) 010-20111938

The TAP assists eligible students with the cost of relocating to undertake tertiary study in the year immediately following the completion of year 12 (or equivalent qualification) with no gap year.

Students must be relocating from their family home, which is located in:

• an inner regional area
• an outer regional area
• a remote area, or
• a very remote area

There is 2 payment types:

• Students whose family home address is classified as outer regional, remote or very remote, receive a payment of $5,000 paid in two instalments
• Students whose family home address is classified as inner regional receive a one off payment of $3,000

The amount and payment dates will depend on which of the above payment amount the students are eligible for.

Students can lodge TAP claims:

• from 1 January to 31 December in the calendar year they commence their tertiary course, and
• only after they have completed their year 12 or equivalent qualification)

A student may be able to lodge after this date if special circumstances prevents lodgement of a TAP New Claim in the calendar year immediately following the completion of year 12 (or equivalent qualification)

A student can lodge a claim for the TAP:

• online, through their myGov account
• over the phone or in person via Assisted Customer Claim (ACC), or
• via a paper claim

The Claim for Tertiary Access Payment (SY104) paper claim is not available for the public to access. Only issue a paper claim where it is inappropriate or unreasonable for students to use the online service or ACC.

Note: a student does not need to be in receipt of another Social Security payment to be eligible for the TAP. Depending on their circumstances they may be eligible for:

• both a Social Security payment
• a Relocation Scholarship (RS), and
• the TAP

For full eligibility criteria, see Assessing and finalising claims for the Tertiary Access Payment (TAP).

Where a student experiences special circumstance beyond their control, that affects their ability to submit a TAP New Claim in the calendar year immediately following the completion of year 12 (or equivalent qualification), they have 14 days after the closing date to contact Services Australia.

The student can then lodge their TAP New claim within 13 weeks from the day they contact Services Australia to have their claim assessed. The student needs to meet one of the special circumstance beyond their control criteria and may need to provide evidence.

TAP is considered an Equity or Merit based scholarship and is not taxable. The TAP may be assessed as income where the student is receiving scholarships totalling more than the exempt income amount for Equity and Merit scholarships. The system will code this on the OIN screen within the claim when processing. See Assessing Scholarship income.

The students’ study details need to be verified prior to each instalment of the TAP payment. See Completing Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) online reviews.

If a customer is requesting a rejected TAP claim to be reassessed, see Request to reassess a rejected claim.

If unable to resolve a customer’s enquiry, create a Fast Note. See the Process page.

TAP students are eligible to use the ‘Cancel my current payment’ service if they:

• have an active Centrelink online account
• do not have a nominee agreement

Eligible TAP students should follow the process in Cancel my current payment online.

If the system cannot automatically finalise the online cancellation, a work item is created. Service Officers will be able to manually cancel the payment, see the Process page.

Prior to issuing each instalment, the agency confirms eligibility via an enrolment check. A student is eligible for TAP on the day the instalment was paid, even if their circumstances change after receiving the instalment.

The student can get a debt if:

• they receive a payment in error, or
• they receive the payment fraudulently

Debts may be recovered where a customer has received a payment to an incorrect account or if the payment was fraudulently obtained.

When making an unfavourable decision, speak to the customer:

• explain the decision
• give them a chance to supply more details or evidence
• advise their review and appeal rights, and record an application for a formal review of the decision if required

The limit for requesting a review of the decision is 13 weeks from the date of notification of the decision.

A customer can write to the Department of Education complaints team if they have concerns about TAP policy or advice given by Services Australia.