That ICPA (Aust) continues to lobby the Minister for Education and the Minister for Social Services for an increase to the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Basic Boarding Allowance, to help reduce the gap between costs incurred by geographically isolated families and the Basic Boarding Allowance.
Geographically isolated families not only have to pay boarding fees which are continually increasing, but also face additional, unavoidable and ever-increasing costs of travel and accommodation.
Geographically isolated families often have no choice other than to send their children away for boarding school in the secondary years. Often these schools are hundreds of kilometres and many hours travel from their home. Geographically isolated families face additional costs when they drop off and pick up their children and for weekend visits, especially for compulsory leave weekends, during the term. With the cost of boarding fees, fuel, flights and accommodation increasing and the AIC only increasing slightly each year the gap between what geographically isolated families pay to send their children to boarding school and what they receive through the AIC Basic Boarding Allowance is quickly widening.
In recent data collected in a survey conducted of GI families across Australia, over 75% families face a gap of $5000.00 or more per term.
We understand that the AIC Basic Boarding Allowance cannot cover all costs, but we believe an increase to the AIC Basic Boarding Allowance of at least $4000.00 per annum would help reduce the gap between actual costs for geographically isolated families and the Basic Boarding Allowance. This would help ensure equity of educational opportunities for families with students living in geographically isolated areas.
