Payment of Residential Costs Option (RCO) for ABSTUDY and ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement (PES) 010-24092536

If the student:

• wants to accept one of the following instead of RCO:
• A scholarship offered under the Indigenous Student Success Programme (ISSP) for relocation and/or accommodation
• Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) Relocation Scholarship
• Other equivalent Commonwealth scholarship
• Go to Step 2
• is discontinuing RCO for a vacation period and wants to access RCO upon return to the residential college in the following study period, go to Step 3
• no longer wants to receive RCO, go to Step 4
• is no longer eligible for RCO, go to Step 5
• wants to receive RCO or requesting their residential fees be paid, go to Step 8
• is leaving the residential college early and needs to pay exit fees, see ABSTUDY Additional Assistance

Students cannot receive RCO and an ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation in the same year as the scholarship period.

The RCO and associated ABSTUDY benefits may be a more beneficial financial package than receipt of the ISSP. Students must carefully consider their best outcome. See the Resources page for examples of how to determine the most beneficial outcome.

If the student decides to accept the ISSP, RCO must be end dated from the commencement of the scholarship offered under the ISSP in the year. This may result in an overpaid amount of RCO.

To end RCO:

• Go to the Accommodation (AC) screen
• Update the Sharer Status: field to remove the RCO code
• Update the Event Date: field with the date of the beginning of the scholarship period
• Code the balance of the AC screen as appropriate based on the new circumstances of the student. See Recording accommodation details
• If required, update address details, see Updating address details
• Record details on a DOC
• Close the Display on Access DOC which identifies receipt of RCO

Go to Step 6.

Student opts to remain in their residential college or in a hostel during vacation period

If the student opts to remain:

• RCO can continue to be paid
• Living Allowance and ABSTUDY PES will continue to be payable at the appropriate reduced or nil rate

Record details on a DOC.

Procedure ends here.

Student temporarily leaves the residential college during the vacation period

A student may want to discontinue RCO over a vacation period in which they temporarily leave the residential college and continue with RCO upon recommencing at the college in the following study period. Ask the student if they plan to return to the residential accommodation.

For periods where the student temporarily returns home during their scheduled vacation period, the AC screen must be updated so the student's normal rate of ABSTUDY Living Allowance or ABSTUDY PES, is payable for the periods during which residential fees are not being charged.

The dates of these periods can be provided by:

• the student
• the college or hostel invoice previously provided
• the college or hostel in respect to each term/semester

If the exact dates are unavailable, use the formal semester commencement/end dates for the courses at the student's education provider available on National Course Approvals.

Go to the AC screen to reflect each of these periods. There may be several through the period of study. Update:

• Address Type used for RA Calc: field - code 'HOM'
• Event Date: field - code the first date the Residential Fees are not being charged
• Sharer Status: field - code 'EXE'
• Type of Rent: field - code 'NRP'
• Net Rent Amount: field - leave blank
• Rent Verification: field - leave blank

Obtain the date the student intends to return to the residential college or hostel, and the date the residential fees are being charged from, as the AC screen must be updated in advance to:

• Address Type used for RA calc: field - code 'TER'
• Event Date: field - code the first date the residential fees re-commence
• Home Ownership: field - code NHO (non-homeowner)
• Type of Rent: field - code BOA (board and lodgings) or LOD (lodgings) or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES
• Sharer Status: field - code 'RCO' (Residential Costs Option)
• Net Rent Amount: field - code the weekly amount being charged by the residential facility or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES
  To obtain the weekly Net Rent Amount, divide the total amount being charged by the number of weeks the invoice is covering
• Rent Verification: field - code EXB (customer in Boarding Style accommodation) or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES

Note: to obtain the weekly Net Rent Amount, divide the total amount being charged by the number of weeks the invoice is covering

If required, update address details, see Updating address details

Go to Step 6.

Where the customer has not lost eligibility to RCO payments, but no longer wants to receive RCO.

To end RCO:

• Go to the AC screen and update:
• Sharer Status: remove the RCO code, and update with the customer's new sharer status
• Event Date: code the day after the period covered by the most recent residential fees payment
• Code the remaining fields of the AC screen as appropriate based on the new circumstances of the student. See Recording accommodation details
• If required, update address details, see Updating address details
• Annotate the RCO Display on Access (DOA) DOC with details, and expire the DOC.

Go to Step 6.

Customers may no longer be eligible for RCO due to:

• ceasing study
• changing from full-time to part-time studies
• no longer boarding with the accommodation provider

To end RCO:

• Go to the AC screen and update:
• Sharer Status: remove the RCO code, and update with the customer's new sharer status
• Event Date: code the date of the change in circumstances
• Code the remaining fields of the AC screen as appropriate based on the new circumstances of the student. See Recording accommodation details
• If required, update address details, see Updating address details
• Record details on a DOC
• Close the Display on Access DOC which identifies receipt of RCO

Go to Step 6.

Check if the RCO payments have been paid to the accommodation provider:

• Tertiary student - 'RCP' (Residential Costs Payments) amount paid via the Supplementary Education Payments (EPSP) screen
• Secondary non-schooling student - a DOC on student record

If RCO payments have been made to the accommodation provider for the current year:

• Create a Fast Note - select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABSTUDY action requests > Confirm
• Add the following details in the Fast Note:
• Date student left the accommodation provider:
• Name of accommodation provider student has left:
• Reason for leaving provider early:
• AC screen has been updated to reflect that student has ceased receiving the Residential Costs Option
• Please investigate any excess Residential Costs Payments which may have been paid to the accommodation provider
• Procedure ends here

Go to Step 7.

If no RCO payments have been made to the accommodation provider, procedure ends here.

As the student has ceased the RCO prior to the end of studies for the current year, there may be excess Residential Costs Payments which must be recovered from the accommodation provider.

The accommodation provider can retain any payments which have been charged for the accommodation. This includes any period after the student ceases to qualify for RCO.

The accommodation provider may have a refund policy for when a student leaves early. Refunds must be recovered.

To determine the coding required:

• Check the EPSP screen, contact the accommodation provider and confirm the payments are correct, considering any refund. This includes charges for any period after they ceased to qualify for RCO
• Adjust the Amount paid: field on each screen to reflect updated charges/refunds. Any periods not already coded may require an additional EPSP screen to be coded
• If a new EPSP screen must be coded, see Table 3, Step 1
• Finalise activity on the Assessment Results (AR) screen and record details in a DOC on the student's record

Procedure ends here.

To be eligible for the RCO, the student must be eligible for one of the following ABSTUDY Awards:

• Schooling B Award
• Tertiary Award
• Masters & Doctorate Award

Does the student qualify for one of the above awards?

• Yes, go to Step 9
• No, student is not eligible for RCO. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

To be eligible for the Residential Costs Option, students must be one of the following:

• a dependent student who has been approved for Away from Home entitlements
• an independent student, or PES recipient, who would meet one of the criteria for Away from Home entitlements if they were not independent or a PES recipient
• a student who has ceased being in State care only because of their age

Does the student meet one of the above?

• Yes, go to Step 10
• No, student is not eligible for RCO. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

Approved residential arrangements, can include:

• on campus accommodation owned/leased by the education provider
• off campus student accommodation owned/leased by the education provider
• on campus accommodation owned by private enterprise (for example, Unilodge Bundoora, Unilodge ANU, SCAPE)
• off campus student accommodation owned by private enterprise, where its purpose is to provide accommodation for students enrolled in approved institution(s) or there is a clear partnership with the education provider to relieve demand on campus accommodation. For example, SCAPE
• a hostel
• staying in an overseas residential college or equivalent that is attached to their Australian educational provider

The student will self-identify on their ABSTUDY claim, in a note or verbally where they are living, and verification is not required for this information. The residential charges do not have to include meals for approval of RCO.

Is the student in an approved residential arrangement?

• Yes, go to Step 11
• No, student is not eligible for RCO. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

For at least one fortnight over the period they are claiming RCO, the student must receive at least $1 from one of the following payments:

• Living Allowance, including any amounts of Rent Assistance (RA), Pharmaceutical Allowance (PhA)
• Energy Supplement
• PES

Did the student receive at least $1 of any of the above listed payments?

• Yes, go to Step 13
• No, due to:
• not receiving an amount of Living Allowance, go to Step 12
• other reasons, student is not eligible for RCO. Record details on a DOC. Procedure ends here

To be eligible for RCO, the student must receive at least $1 of Living Allowance including any amounts of Rent Assistance (RA), Pharmaceutical Allowance (PhA) or Energy Supplement.

This means prior to moving into the residential facility the student may be on a zero rate of payment due to the effects of the personal, partner or parental income tests.

To determine if the student is in receipt of at least $1 of Living Allowance:

• Provisionally code the AC screen:
• Address Type used for RA Calc: field - code TER (term)
• Event Date: field - code the date the student started living at the college/hostel
• Home Ownership: field - code NHO (non-homeowner)
• Type of Rent: field - code BOA (board and lodgings) or LOD (lodgings) or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES
• Sharer Status: field - code RCO (Residential Costs Option)
• Net Rent Amount: field - code the weekly amount being charged by the residential facility or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES
  To obtain the weekly Net Rent Amount, divide the total amount being charged by the amount of weeks the invoice is covering
• Rent Verification: field - code EXB (customer in Boarding Style accommodation) or leave blank when the student is receiving ABSTUDY PES
• Date of Receipt: field (DOR) - where the Event Date (DOV) is:
  - today or in the future, code the DOR as the date the customer contacts
  - in the past, code a DOR equal to the DOV. This may result in a negative adjustment on the AR screen. For New Claims, this will require the original NCL activity to be cancelled and re-indexed using the DOR that RCO is to be coded from
• Go to the Assessment Results (AR) screen and check if Living Allowance, RA, PhA or Energy Supplement is now paying

Is the student now receiving at least $1 of Living Allowance?

• Yes, go to Step 13
• No, student is not eligible for RCO
• Remove provisional coding
• Record details on a DOC
• Procedure ends here

Check if the student has been paid one of the following:

• Relocation Scholarship (RS) (on the One Off Payment (OOP) screen)
• Indigenous Student Success Programme (ISSP) for relocation and/or accommodation costs (coded as CAS on the Higher Education Scholarship Summary (HESS) screen
• DVA Relationship Scholarship
• equivalent Commonwealth scholarship

Has the student received one of the above for the same scholarship period?

• Yes, go to Step 14
• No, see Table 3, Step 1

RCO is not payable for any period where a person has received (or will receive):

• RS
• ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs
• other equivalent scholarship

Unless the offer of a place in a residential college or hostel is received after one of the above has been paid for a year.

The residential college or hostel must provide written or verbal advice identifying the date of the offer of the accommodation will be required.

Was the offer of the place in a residential college received after the qualification date for the RS, ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs or other equivalent scholarship?

• Yes, see Table 2, Step 1
• No, and the student elects:
• to continue to receive RS, ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs or equivalent Commonwealth scholarship, the student is not eligible for RCO
  - Record details on a DOC
  - Procedure ends here
• to take-up RCO:
  - Raise RS as a debt
  - Cancel ISSP and/or other equivalent scholarship, see Table 2, Step 5

RCO may financially benefit many students, it will not be a benefit to all, particularly those on the maximum rate. The student must consider following:

Living Allowance customers

Where eligible Living Allowance recipients take up the RCO, they will receive the lesser of:

• $41.60 per fortnight, or
• The student's normal fortnightly Living Allowance entitlement, including any amounts of Rent Assistance, Pharmaceutical Allowance or Energy Supplement (that is, the amount they would receive after the application of the personal, partner and parental income tests). A student receiving ABSTUDY PES will forfeit their ABSTUDY PES payments entirely for the period when their residential costs are being met by ABSTUDY. Their pension payment is not affected by this arrangement

Note: the residential fees component of the RCO is not subject to a means test.

Non-refundable deposits

To secure accommodation some residential colleges or hostels require a student to pay a deposit in advance. These are deemed as non-refundable deposits. They can be paid prior to the RCO payments commencing. Students must be advised if they do not take up accommodation with the college or hostel, an overpayment would be raised that the student would have to pay back. See Create a new debt record manually on the Debt Management and Information System (DMIS).

Residential costs

A student whose residential costs are higher than their loss of entitlement will benefit financially if they take RCO.

Scholarship amount payable

The amount a student may receive for a Relocation Scholarship, ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs or other equivalent scholarship must also be considered when looking at the total payable to the student.

See the Resources page for examples.

Additional Assistance and/or Meals Allowance are not available to supplement the reduced rate of Living Allowance or PES.

The Resources page contains examples of these situations.

Does the student want to claim RCO?

• Yes, go to Step 3
• Yes, and the student is getting ABSTUDY PES, go to Step 4
• No, record the student's decision and details of any discussion on a DOC. Procedure ends here

RCO is initially coded on the student's record and is the same for both tertiary and secondary level students.

In Process Direct, the Customer Study Details (EDC) screen or in Customer First, the Education Course Details (EDC) screen must have the student's correct course details. For:

• tertiary students - C01/C02/C03/C04/TGD/TGC/TSC/TGB/TGA/SYC
• secondary level students - SNS/SSN/UPC

The Address Details (AD) screen must have a term address recorded for the period of residence at the college/hostel and the Address type: field updated with the code 'TER'.

Go to the Accommodation (AC) screen. Update:

• Address Type used for RA Calc: field - code 'TER' (term)
• Event Date: field - code the date the student started living at the college/hostel
• Home Ownership: field - code NHO (non-homeowner)
• Type of Rent: field - code BOA (board and lodgings) or LOD (lodgings)
• Sharer Status: field - code 'RCO' (Residential Costs Option)
• Net Rent Amount: field - code the weekly amount being charged by the residential facility
  To obtain the weekly Net Rent Amount, divide the total amount being charged by the amount of weeks the invoice is for.
• Rent Verification: field - code EXB (customer in Boarding Style accommodation)
• Date of Receipt: field (DOR) - where the Event Date (DOV) is
• today, or in the future, code the DOR as the date the customer contacts
• in the past, code a DOR equal to the DOV. This may result in a negative adjustment on the AR screen. For New Claims, the original NCL activity must be cancelled and re-indexed using the DOR that RCO is to be coded from

Code all other fields as appropriate. See Completing Accommodation Details (AC) screen and assessing Rent Assistance (RA).

The RCO code in the Sharer Status: field stimulates the system to pay the appropriate amount of Living Allowance to the student during periods of residence.

Note: a debt shell for Relocation Scholarship (RS) will occur for a student who has previously been paid RS in the same scholarship period. In circumstances where RCO is payable because the offer of the place in the residential accommodation occurred after a RS has been paid, the RS is not a debt.

Tell the student the college or hostel must send an account or invoice to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team showing:

• the residential charges for each term/semester
• exact dates charged for accommodation and meals, and
• an itemised list of charges, including whether they are compulsory or refundable fees

Record a DOC containing details of claim for RCO. Record a Display on Access DOC showing the student is getting RCO.

Is the student in receipt of a scholarship offered under the ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

There is specific coding for students who get ABSTUDY PES. This must occur to prevent payment of Rent Assistance (RA) with their qualifying payment.

The Address Details (AD) screen must have a term address recorded for the period of residence at the college/hostel and the Address Type: field updated with the code 'TER'.

Go to the Accommodation (AC) screen. Update:

• Address Type used for RA Calc: field - code 'TER' (term)
• Event Date: field - code the date the student started living at the college/hostel
• Home Ownership: field - code NHO (non-homeowner)
• Type of Rent: field - leave blank
• Sharer Status: field - code 'RCO' (Residential Costs Option)
• Net Rent Amount: field - leave blank
• Rent Verification: field - leave blank
• Date of Receipt: field (DOR) - where the Event Date (DOV) is:
• today, or in the future, code the DOR as the date the customer contacts
• in the past, code a DOR equal to the DOV. This may result in a negative adjustment on the AR screen. For new claims, cancel the original NCL activity and re-index using the DOR that RCO is to be coded from

Code all other fields as appropriate. See Completing Accommodation Details (AC) screen and assessing Rent Assistance (RA).

Note: a debt shell for Relocation Scholarship (RS) will occur for a student who has previously been paid RS in the same scholarship period. In circumstances where RCO is payable because the offer of the place in the residential accommodation occurred after an RS has been paid, the RS is not a debt.

Tell the student the college or hostel must send an account or invoice to the ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team showing:

• the residential charges for each term/semester
• accommodation and meal charges, with exact dates
• an itemised list of charges, including whether they are compulsory or refundable fees

Record a DOC containing details of claim for RCO. Record a Display on Access DOC identifying the student is in receipt of RCO.

Is the student in receipt of a scholarship offered under ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs?

• Yes, go to Step 5
• No, go to Step 6

If a student is in receipt of a scholarship offered under the ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs (recorded at HESS screen as CAS):

• Advise the student to contact their higher education provider and retrospectively cancel the scholarship offered under the ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs from the beginning of the scholarship period
• Provide confirmation from the higher education provider of the cancellation date of the scholarship offered under the ISSP for relocation and/or accommodation costs
• End date the ISSP (CAS) on the HESS screen
• Record details on a DOC
• Record a Display on Access DOC identifying the student is getting RCO

The student must provide an account or invoice for their residential fees, including the following details:

• Residential Institution name
• Students name
• Exact dates charged for accommodation and meals
• Itemised list of charges, including if they are compulsory or refundable fees

Has the student provided an account or invoice for their residential fees?

• Yes, and the student has contacted through:
• Smart Centre Call, create a Fast Note, select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > Residential Costs Option Invoice Rec'd > Confirm
• see Table 3, Step 1
• No, and the student has contacted through:
• Smart Centre Call, ask the student to provide an account or invoice for their residential fees
  - Record details on a DOC
  - Procedure ends here
• ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing team, contact the student or send a letter and request them to provide an account or invoice for their residential fees
  - Record the request on a DOC
  - Procedure ends here

Payments of residential fees in respect of tertiary students are paid via the Supplementary Education Payments (EPSP) screen when the college/hostel claims the residential costs.

The ABSTUDY Smart Centre Processing site will code payments in respect of each term/semester after they receive an account or invoice for the residential fees.

Go to the Supplementary Education Payments (EPSP) screen. Update:

• Institution: field. This field auto populates from the institution details on the current Customer Study Details (EDC) screen in Process Direct or Education Course Details (EDC) screen in Customer First
• Event Date: field. Referring to the invoice, code the first day of the period claimed by the residency provider. If this is prior to the commencement of ABSTUDY, use the first date of entitlement to Living Allowance
• Payment Type: field. Code 'RCP' (residential cost payments)
• Amount Claimed: field. Code an amount here only if the amount claimed is not the amount to be paid
• Amount Paid: field. Code the amount to be paid. Usually this will be the amount the residency provider claims for the full period charged
• Payee: field. Code 'TPT' (third party). Note: no other code can be entered in this field for RCO
• Claim details: is a free text field. Code relevant information, including invoice number and period of payment
• Frequency: field defaults to 'ONE'. Do not change this field
• Source: and DOR: fields. Code as appropriate

If residential fees are to be paid to:

• more than one residential institution, and the total payment exceeds the ABSTUDY system arrears limit:
• annotate the open Residential Costs Option Invoice Rec'd DOC to show the second or subsequent invoices need to be paid
• place the open Residential Costs Option Invoice Rec'd DOC on hold for system date +1, to action the second or subsequent invoices the following day
• action the oldest invoice first, select Continue. Go to Step 2
• one residential institution, select Continue. Go to Step 2

Note:

• If the second or subsequent invoice has dates that overlap with the previous invoice, a pro-rata payment is made. See Resources, Assessing residential fees for overlapping periods
• If a student has already paid some of the compulsory non-refundable fees on the invoice, such as an online application fee or acceptance fee, these must be included when paying the residential costs so the accommodation provider can reimburse the student

Link to the accommodation provider CRN on the Payment Instructions (PIPI) screen, see Payments to third parties and institutions for ABSTUDY.

If the accommodation provider does not have a CRN create one by referring to Creating and updating Organisation records for ABSTUDY and Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) purposes. The accommodation provider must not be linked to a payee that has been manually created on the Payment Instructions Payee Details (PIPD) screen.

This will generate the payment to the college/hostel.

Amounts of over $20,000 will reject overnight, these will have to be reissued the following working day. See Reissuing a rejected payment.

Note: upon reissuing the rejected payment, if the payment amount is too large to issue in one payment, the system will automatically break into 2 or more payments. These will issue on consecutive days.

• Create a Fast Note on both the student's record and the Residential college or hostel's record. Select Auto text, use Students, ABSTUDY & Apprentices > Update > ABY Residential Cost Option
• Edit auto text
• Student record - record all of the following:
• invoice number
• name of residential college or hostel
• amount claimed
• amount paid
• period of payment
• Residential college or hostels record -manually record all of the following:
• Student's name
• Student's CRN
• Ensure the DOC is completed