THE federal government has responded to a report into education hardships faced by country students with an additional $42 million across the next four years and a change in its Youth Allowance rules.
In response to the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education, which was convened by Flinders University Emeritus Professor John Halsey, the government made two announcements in its 2018-19 budget.
This includes a commitment of $28m to expand the availability of sub-bachelor and enabling places, such as diplomas or associate degrees, in regional areas.
Prof Halsey said there was a need to bring the profile of high-quality vocational education “back to the bush”.
It also offers $14m towards additional Commonwealth-supported bachelor places in regional study hubs, providing an extra 185 places from next year, up to 500 places in 2022.
There are also proposed changes to the provisions for Youth Allowance.
The existing scheme allowed students to be declared independent of their parents or guardians’ income if they were from a regional or remote area, needed to move away from home to study and had earned a certain amount of money within a 14-month period.
The proviso was also dependent on the family income, with parents needing to have earned less than $150,000 in a financial year.
Under the proposed changes, this limit will increase to $160,000, with an additional $10,000 allowed for each subsequent child in the family.
Students who want to take this opportunity can use the financial year prior to their working year for this assessment, to give them certainty about whether they will meet the parental income limit before they begin their gap year.
Prof Halsey said the report had advocated against the need for students to take this gap year, saying it added an extra delay in the transition from secondary to tertiary schooling.