New Youth Allowance requirements ‘unrealistic’
Students believe the Federal Governments’ decision to remove two important Youth Allowance eligibility requirements to claim independency is unrealistic.
The new criterion involves students working 30 hours a week for 18 months within a 2-year period.
Under the old scheme, students who had worked part-time for at least 15 hours a week for 2 years or earned at least $19,500 in an 18-month period were eligible for Youth Allowance.
“It’s not fair on students and their parents, the changes will inevitably wave some people out in the cold,” said Noah White, President of University of Sydney’s Student Representative Council.
“We have had a case worker that has been working here for 15 years and she has not once seen anyone apply through hours per week scheme, it has nearly always been through the $19,500 – and now that’s gone,” added Noah White.
Further tightening of independency eligibility is unrealistic and means up to 30,000 students miss out on Youth Allowance benefits.
Implications for secondary school students, gap-year and rural students are huge as many students who are already working this year or have made plans to work next year to qualify for benefits under the old scheme are now ineligible.
“I was working ridiculous hours this year whilst trying to keep up with my studies just so I could be eligible for Youth Allowance next year – then I could have moved closer to the University campus, and now I’m not eligible,” said Alix Piatek, a University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), student traveling to and from Wollongong to attend the UTS City campus.
“What is really concerning is that these changes are planned to come into effect immediately [starting from 2010], there are other changes in the budget that are not so immediate, the Youth Allowance changes for independency should be one of them,” said Petra McNeilly-Rutledge, President of University of Technology Sydney’s Students’ Association.
At the Bradley Review Press Conference in Melbourne, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said, “we obviously believe it’s the right package; that’s why we introduced it in the Budget,” in response to the question of if the Government will take into consideration of changing the workplace criteria so that students who have deferred this year won’t miss out on the benefits.
Some good news incorporated in the Youth Allowance budget include the progressive lowering of the independence age from 25 to 22 by 2012, students being able to earn $400 a fortnight from 2011 before losing benefits (up from $236), as well as other post-graduate and scholarship benefits.
Both White and McNeilly-Rutledge say the Rudd Government is heading in the right direction and it is a good sign that they care about higher education, but work needs to be done on some impractical changes.
They are both pushing for a less immediate action in 2009-10 Youth Allowance budget changes to assist the many secondary, gap-year and rural students.
by Sharin Afrin Ahmed
