THE family farm will no longer be a barrier to accessing Youth Allowance for country students, the federal government announced in its 2015 budget.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said the government will introduce more generous means testing arrangements for payments to help regional and rural families better support the transition of their children from school to further study.
"The Coalition will remove the Family Asset Test and Family Actual Means Test from the Youth Allowance Parental Income Test," he said.
"This 2015-16 budget measure will base the assessment of a young person's access to Youth Allowance on a fairer measure of family income.
"Removing the asset test will enable about 4100 additional dependent Youth Allowance recipients to qualify for the first time, accessing average annual payments of more than $7000 a year.
"It will see a further 1200 people receive the payment for the first time as well as increase payments for about 4860 existing students by about $2000 a year.
"The changes will mean farming families will not have farm assets counted toward the test for their children."
Federal Member for Grey Rowan Ramsey said he has been a passionate advocate for Youth Allowance and was pleased with the changes.
"It's recognition from the government that students from country areas do face bigger challenges in accessing higher education than those who live in the cities," he said.
"These changes will enable many students whose families are asset rich but income poor to qualify.
"In particular it removes the family farm as a barrier to an equitable education and allows a fair go for small business operators who also have high assets and a lower income.
"This is a good step and I continue to work with a group of regional Coalition members to bring about further support for young people from regional and rural Australia who have to leave home to further their studies."
