“That ICPA Qld lobbies the State Government to significantly raise the Living Away from Home Allowances Scheme (LAFHAS) rates for rural and remote students attending boarding school.”
For many rural and remote students in our branch area, boarding school is not a luxury but often the only viable option for families who wish to remain living in their community while educating their secondary school-aged students. The lack of secondary schooling options in rural areas and the long travel times to access these options often make boarding school the only option.
Case Study:
A student, who is the eldest of 4 children, with professional parents who work in a regional community within the Southern Downs branch area, has started Year 11 in 2023. The family lives 80km (approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes via bus transport each way) from their nearest Senior Secondary School. The student would spend approximately 3 hours travelling to and from school daily. The family made the very difficult decision to send their child to boarding school as the travel time was prohibitive and they felt their child deserved the opportunity to access many of the extra-curricular activities that both the school offered and equivalent to those available to any metropolitan student.
The current Remote Area Travel Allowance for this student is $142 per semester. The Remote Area Tuition Allowance is $3138 per semester. The family is out of pocket $9295.66 per semester for tuition and at least $840 for travel (based on using the bus transport provided by the school at end of term and private transport at beginning of term). This is over $20,000 for one year of schooling. This figure does not consider the costs of the student boarding.
When calculating boarding costs on top of these tuition and travel costs, multiplied by 4 children, this family would financially better off moving to a larger community where their children’s educational (both curricular and extracurricular) needs can be met. This family will likely move from the community as many families have before them to educate their children.
How do regional and remote communities attract and retain essential professionals and tradespeople like teachers, doctors, nurses, engineers, electricians etc when the cost of educating their children in regional and remote communities is so high?
