That ICPA (Aust) advocates to the Minister for Education and Minister for Social Services for an increase to the Assistance for Isolated Children (AIC) Basic Boarding Allowance to more closely reflect the real cost of educating geographically isolated students where the only option is to attend a boarding facility.
A recent survey of Western Australian Midwest branch members confirmed that the AIC Basic Boarding Allowance of $2349 per term fails to address the actual costs of sending a child to a boarding facility.91% ofrespondents were in the range of $5000 - $10,000 per term, per child deficit when boarding fees, travel costs and overnight accommodation were taken into consideration.
Many of our families reside in locations that have no access to a local high school. The cost of boarding school continues to rise, and our families are faced with very difficult financial decisions as to how they are going to afford to educate their high school aged children and continue to live in their rural community.
An increase to the AIC Basic Boarding Allowance is a much-needed equity allowance to allow geographically isolated children an education as afforded to their urban counterparts and help alleviate the financial burden placed on families to pay for their children’s education.
