“That ICPA (Aust) advocates to the Minister for Social Services for greater flexibility for regional, rural and remote students to qualify for independent Youth Allowance to support greater fairness and more equal opportunity to complete a tertiary qualification.”
In response to the Australian Universities Accord Report (Review), as part of the May 2024 budget, the Albanese Labor Government has set an overall tertiary education attainment target of 80 per cent of working aged people by 2050.
The Review summary recognised that:
“Raising tertiary education attainment to these levels will not be easy. It can only be achieved by making the higher education system far more equitable. The current under representation of people from disadvantaged groups must end.”
Regional, rural and remote people were considered a disadvantaged under-represented group in the Review.
It is well-known that the lack of financial support is a barrier to RRR students completing tertiary education. One of the five key messages from the National Regional, Rural and Remote Education Strategy 2019 (Napthine Review) was: “there is insufficient support for RRR individuals who want to participate in tertiary education. Improving financial support is a necessary part of increasing access to, and completion of, tertiary education.”
The Australian Universities Accord Report (Review) acknowledged that: “Income support payments for students have not kept pace with wages or the needs of students and need to be adjusted to prevent cost-of-living pressures deterring people from studying. This is exactly the sort of thing Australia must avoid. The changes proposed by the Review are not only large, but they are also urgent. They must get underway as soon as possible.”
The Review findings include:
“Every Australian should have the opportunity to experience the life transforming benefits of tertiary education. This is vital for Australia’s future. Only by expanding access to tertiary education to currently under-represented groups – including people from … regional, rural and remote students – can the nation meet its projected skills needs.”
Recommendation 15 from the Review:
15. That to reduce the cost-of-living pressures on current students and remove the financial barriers to commencing study, the Australian Government improve access to income support for those who need it most and consider how to ensure the level of support is adequate to meet basic living standards while studying by:
a. increasing the Parental Income Free Area for Youth Allowance from $58,108 to $68,857 per family and indexing it to the higher of the Consumer Price Index and Male Total Average Weekly Earnings, recognising that the current income-free area has not kept pace with growth in wages
b. expanding income support eligibility and providing pro rata student payments to students who study part-time (between 50% and 74% of a full study load)
and that, due to the complexity of social security payments, the Minister for Social Services works with the Minister for Education to address the problems the Review has identified by commissioning further technical analysis, with a report back to the ministers by early 2025. Such work should follow the principles below:
i. student income support payments should continue to be focused on those most in need of support, and eligibility criteria should be regularly monitored to ensure the level of support is adequate to meet basic living standards while studying
ii. student income support payments should continue to allow students to undertake reasonable amounts of work while studying, including through arrangements such as the income bank
iii. student income support payments should follow an education-first principle where the policy intent is to reduce roadblocks to tertiary education participation and enable retention, success and completion
iv. student income support payments should reduce the barriers facing students deciding whether to commence their study, focusing on the largest barriers of financial security and other responsibilities (such as working, caring and family)
v. eligibility criteria for youth payments should take into account the specific needs of regional students, including the extra costs of relocation and that, once they leave home to study, many are effectively independent.
The Review is also concerned that independence testing arrangements are disadvantaging school leavers who need to move away from home to study. It referenced the Napthine Review which also found insufficient income support to participate in tertiary education is a key driver of lower participation and attainment outcomes for people from regional, rural and remote areas, and recommended more flexible pathways to demonstrate independence for Youth Allowance purposes for these students.
The Napthine Review indicated its preferred approach, would be: “to see all students who relocate from a regional, rural or remote area automatically considered independent. The specific challenges regional, rural and remote students face in accessing higher education, and the extent to which the student income support system is doing enough to reduce these barriers, warrants further consideration.”
It also stated:
“Providing this support is not about providing welfare assistance, but rather removing a barrier that constrains the aspirations of students and prevents them from having the opportunity to successfully undertake higher-level tertiary education. In an ideal world, all RRR students and families would have access to support through Youth Allowance or some other mechanism to meet the additional costs associated with relocation. This would provide greater fairness and equity and ensure students are not deterred from undertaking study by the additional costs they may incur because of where they live. The Advisory Group’s preferred approach, if it were possible, would be to allow all students who relocate from an RRR area to automatically qualify as independent for Youth Allowance purposes. This would incorporate all tertiary qualifications that span at least one year. Students could also be provided with a one-off “relocation allowance” at the beginning of their course….”
The introduction of the Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) has been a welcomed support as a relocation allowance. However, it is evident that more needs to be done. Improved financial support will encourage greater participation and help increase the number of students from RRR areas successfully completing their studies.
While there have been some significant improvements to financial support for RRR students over recent years, the costs associated with tertiary education still deter some students from studying and create additional pressures for them and their families.
