Government bungles Austudy means test

By Marina Cameron

Changes to Austudy passed through the Senate last December have been estimated to have lowered or cancelled the payments of 60,000 students (a third of those who received the allowance last year, and twice the number originally estimated by the government). Adding insult to injury, the bungled implementation of a tougher parental means test has denied hundreds of students the payments they are entitled to.

Students enrolling this year will be deemed dependent if they are under 25 years old (previously 22) and will get less if their parents' income exceeds $22,600. Even if they turn 25 while studying, their rate will not change.

Around 20% of Austudy applicants have had to undergo the new means test which involved reading a 36-page booklet and completing a 17-page form. Both failed to inform students that their expected income from Austudy should not be included as part of the means test. This took many students over the threshold, and they were automatically assessed as ineligible.

Students who realised their mistake were not allowed to simply fill in another form. They were forced to undergo an official review with waiting periods of up to eight weeks. The bungle has left many lower-income students without any benefits until the start of the academic year. The minister for education, Amanda Vanstone, defended the new guidelines in the Sydney Morning Herald on February 11, stating that they were supposed to stop the wealthy from rorting the scheme.

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