Other government assistance
To ease the pressure of university expenses, we encourage you to look at all the options as there are many government assistance programs that can help fund your university studies and living expenses.
The main assistance programs available to domestic students are Youth Allowance, AUSTUDY or ABSTUDY. Your eligibility for these programs will depend on your age and circumstances.
Youth Allowance
Youth Allowance is a fortnightly automatic payment from Centrelink that goes straight into your bank account. The payment rate depends on things like your age, your living circumstances and whether you have dependents.
You may be eligible for Youth Allowance if you are:
- aged 16-24 and studying full time,
- aged 25 and over, studying full time and if you were getting Youth Allowance immediately before turning 25 and are still doing the same course (other full-time students aged 25 and over can apply for Austudy),
- meet residence requirements.
If you have a disability and are studying, you may not need to study full-time to be eligible for Youth Allowance or you may be able to get a Disability Support Pension instead. However, if you have a short-term illness or injury which prevents you from studying full-time you still may be able to get Youth Allowance for the period of the illness or injury.
AUSTUDY
Like Youth Allowance, Austudy is an automatic Centrelink payment paid fortnightly into your bank account.
You may be eligible for Austudy payment if you are:
- over 25 years
- undertaking an approved full-time course
- meet residence requirements
You are considered independent so there is no Parental Means Test, but you must meet a personal (and partner) income and assets test.
ABSTUDY
ABSTUDY is a means tested payment scheme for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
You qualify for ABSTUDY if:
- you are an Australian Indigenous person, and
- you were 14 years or older on 1 January
- and you:
- are studying full-time or part-time
- are studying for a master's or doctorate program
- and you meet the basic eligibility requirements.
How much help you can get from ABSTUDY depends on:
- whether you are studying full-time or part-time
- what course you are studying
- your age
- whether you need to live away from home
- whether you are dependent on your parents / guardians
- how much you and your partner or parents / guardians earn