Rural and regional students have had a major win with the passage of an Coalition amendment to retain the right of students to qualify for Independent Youth Allowance by earning a total sum, regardless of hours worked – the “gap year”.
Senator Fiona Nash, Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate and Senator for NSW, said the Government tried to remove two of three qualifying criteria for Independent Youth Allowance meaning students would have needed to find 30-hour-a-week employment and defer for two years.
“Following an inquiry into the Social Security and Other Legislations Amendment (Income Support for Students) Bill 2009 the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee recommended that the workforce participation criteria in Section 1067A(10)(c) be retained for students who have to leave home to study,” said Senator Nash who chairs the committee.
“This is the provision that allows students to qualify for Independent Youth Allowance after earning a total sum of money over 18 months since leaving school.
“The Committee recommended that the Government establish auditing processes to ensure that once students have received Independent Youth Allowance they do not then return to live at home.
“These amendments were carried.
“It costs rural and regional families between $15,000 and $20,000 to send each child away to a tertiary institution.
“In the absence of any other measure in the bill to address the financial inequity faced by rural and regional students these amendments are vital to ensure they have access to the funding necessary to assist them to pursue tertiary education.
“The Labor Government must now accept these amendments to ensure that students in rural and regional areas are not kept from tertiary study because of financial difficulty.”
Media: Margot Date 0407 485 907
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