April 6, 2010
Eligible regional students can access scholarships worth up to $5300 as part of the changes to Youth Allowance which commenced operation last week.
But The Nationals Member for Gippsland Darren Chester has warned that there is still a long way to go to adequately support regional students who need to move to Melbourne to study.
Changes to Youth Allowance which commenced on April 1, 2010 include:
• Eligible students will receive a $1300 start-up scholarship.
• Students who moved away to study may be eligible for an additional relocation scholarship of $4000 in their first year of study and $1,000 in subsequent years.
• The age of independence is reduced from 25 to 24 years.
Mr Chester said he would continue to work with students and their families to pressure the Federal Government to overhaul the system of student income support.
“The changes introduced by the Labor Government don’t fix the fundamental inequity for students from regional areas who leave home to attend university,” Mr Chester said.
“During the debate on this legislation, The Nationals had a significant victory because we forced the Minister to abandon her plans which would have unfairly penalised the 2009 ‘gap’ year students.
“However, the new system is flawed and disadvantages students who live in towns like Sale, Maffra, Traralgon and Yarram because they can’t achieve the Independent Youth Allowance under the original workforce rules of 15 hours per week over two years, or an income of $19,532 over an 18 month period.
“I would recommend that students speak to their careers counsellors and Centrelink offices before making any decisions regarding their future university plans.”
Mr Chester said the question of fairness would be a key issue in this year’s Federal Election and he would continue to fight for more support for students from regional areas.
“Under Labor’s changes there are too many winners and losers in regional areas. It shouldn’t be this hard to get a fair go for regional students,” Mr Chester said.
“In some areas students attending the same school will be classed as ‘inner regional’ or ‘outer regional’ depending on where they catch the bus to come to classes.
“That means some students will have a harder path to Independent Youth Allowance than their classmates.”
Mr Chester said it was well documented that it cost a regional family at least $15,000 a year to support a child living away from home to study and said the Federal Government needed to provide more support to cover the additional costs.