Youth Allowance Eligibility (2 Viewers)

[eldore44]

how much actually is youth allowance, currently?

 

[moll.]

how much actually is youth allowance, currently?

If you are The maximum fortnightly payment is
single with no children, under 18 years and living at home $203.30
single with no children, under 18 years and not living at home $371.40*
single with no children, 18 years and over and living at home $244.40
single with no children, 18 years and over and not living at home $371.40*
single with children $486.60*
partnered with no children $371.40*
partnered with children $407.80*
single, principal carer of a dependent child (granted an exemption for foster caring/home schooling/distance education/large family) $574.50


Off Centrelink website.

 

[Teslacoil]

I don't follow. Income tax is based on your total income, not your job title. Lots of people with no tertiary education also have high incomes.



Oh right, it would involve a shift. Let's just ignore the criticism then.



Haha, right, ten fold! What evidence do you have of this enormous dividend apart from it just being "the way it is?"



How is it fucked up? Most people seem to get by with part time jobs. If worst comes to worse and their parents won't support them and they can't get government assistance, students can complete their degree part time, or work for a few years and save some money.

I see absolutely no evidence of talented people missing out on uni because they can't get enough welfare. If anything it is the total opposite, with way to many useless students, in useless degrees encouraged to waste everyone's time and money because of welfare.

Take my case as an example then.

I grew up in a rural area, with my parents earning above the threshold for me to get YA. I have recently moved to Melbourne where I am going to undertake university. Now for me to qualify for YA I have to find a job in a rural community and work for 18 months and earn close to $20k. This is difficult as a) not many jobs in rural communities. and b) I have no previous experience, so not many people want to hire me.

I have since moved to Melbourne where I am planning to undertake university I am not even close to earning independence. Now some of my friends whose parents earn less money receive YA payments of $400+ per fortnight, we are in the same boat, however I have been struggling to find work, while they spend their money drinking and having a good time, they don't have to look for work at all. Now I am pretty much fucked for university because I will have to juggle a part time job to pay for rent and food, while trying to achieve my studies.

I could understand if I received a lesser amount of money or something, but it makes me really fucking angry the way they determine this.

 

[Aquawhite]

Youth Allowance is there to help disadvantaged students and/or families and the threshold to receive youth allowance while working or at home is still extremely high and only just increased. There is no need for a family that is bringing in 80k+ to be getting Youth Allowance, it's simply not needed.

 

[moll.]

Take my case as an example then.

I grew up in a rural area, with my parents earning above the threshold for me to get YA. I have recently moved to Melbourne where I am going to undertake university. Now for me to qualify for YA I have to find a job in a rural community and work for 18 months and earn close to $20k. This is difficult as a) not many jobs in rural communities. and b) I have no previous experience, so not many people want to hire me.

I have since moved to Melbourne where I am planning to undertake university I am not even close to earning independence. Now some of my friends whose parents earn less money receive YA payments of $400+ per fortnight, we are in the same boat, however I have been struggling to find work, while they spend their money drinking and having a good time, they don't have to look for work at all. Now I am pretty much fucked for university because I will have to juggle a part time job to pay for rent and food, while trying to achieve my studies.

I could understand if I received a lesser amount of money or something, but it makes me really fucking angry the way they determine this.

Out of curiosity, I've mentioned a plan on this thread to recoup some of the payments made by the government on YA by adding part or all of the sum to your HECS debt. My question to you is that, if 50% of your YA was added to your HECS debt in exchange for a lowering of the threshold (assumably allowing you access to YA), would you accept it? What if it were 100%?

 

[Boxes]

if i'm making about $500/week, would i be eligible for youth allowance if the rents meet the criteria?

i'm 18 btw, if that makes a difference.

 

[Boxes]

god i'm a scumbag.

 

[NewiJapper]

YA should be availabe to anyone studying full-time.

 

[Boxes]

YA should be availabe to anyone studying full-time.

even to those who are easily able to support themselves, or who's parents are easily able to support them?

 

[BlackDragon]

if i'm making about $500/week, would i be eligible for youth allowance if the rents meet the criteria?

i'm 18 btw, if that makes a difference.

That's not how it works. It depends whether you are an independent student or not, (if you earnt 18,500 in your eighteen months after school). If you have and you are eligable in terms of everything else, you can be on centrelink after that first year or eighteen months. If you are a dependent student (i.e. you have not done this and your parents income meet the qualification), then it depends on your parents income. However, whichever you are, if you are still earning more than $280 a fortnight regularly, then your payments in a reasonable amount of time will go down to zero. This is because every dollar you earn over the 280 a fortnight is taken off what is called your 'income bank' and when this reaches zero your payments will decrease based on your income. But you will still be on youth allowance and if your income decreases for a while enough for your income bank to rise then you will start getting payments again. A proviso to all of this is that if you are earning that much money for months and months on end they will take you off. Moreover, you have to be a full-time student.

 

[NewiJapper]

Like anything in centrelink, the government isnt going to give away money to people who don't need it. Its not going to be persay they pay us FOR studying for fulltime. Available to people who need it. If someone can comfortably life financially, why would they need more money in the first place?

 

[spartan31234]

shit poll choices, i withdraw my vote.

But yea youth allowance shouldn't be available to all students, only to those who need it.

Also if anyone is caught taking illegal drugs while on youth allowance it should be cancelled .

 

[Name_Taken]

shit poll choices, i withdraw my vote.

But yea youth allowance shouldn't be available to all students, only to those who need it.

Also if anyone is caught taking illegal drugs while on youth allowance it should be cancelled .

I agree, though with the thing about illegal drugs, why not just say anyone who is criminally charged and convicted of an offense may risk their allowance eligibility cancelled?

 

[NewiJapper]

because people can change. Just because they have a charged to their name doesn't mean they will commit it again, odds are they might but who knows. Human beings can be complicated things.

 

[moll.]

Tertiary degree (and hence YA) lasts probably 5 years at most. People don't change that much in five years, and we don't have the money available to waste in finding out whether they do or not.


Next!

 

[BlackDragon]

People who have a previous criminal conviction should have the chance to study and be on youth allowance. However, I think that once you are on it and it should be one strike and you are out. If you get a criminal charge (of a certain kind perhaps) then you should lose it. But people who had a troubled past should get the chance to study.

 

[aussie-boy]

Youth Allowance is there to help disadvantaged students and/or families and the threshold to receive youth allowance while working or at home is still extremely high and only just increased. There is no need for a family that is bringing in 80k+ to be getting Youth Allowance, it's simply not needed.

Why do you make the assumption that parents should be expected to financially support adult children?

Sure, Centrelink tries to push this idea that the financial age of independence is 25 (22 if the new legislation passes through parliament) but where in society is this supported?

*Our parents don't get kids discounts when they take us out (designed to make it financially viable to entertain dependents
*There is an expectation that we move out, evidenced by nicknames like KIPPERS (kids in parents’ pockets eroding retirement savings) which show society's disdain for kids who stay at home
*We can drink, gamble, smoke, vote, drive, go to prison etc - we are fully responsible for our criminal actions but we are denied financial responsibility

Parents are forced to spend money which would have been put into retirement - increasing reliance on aged pensions and Medicare etc (the Gov has to pick up the bill rather than private health insurance companies)

---

And in addition to all this; the money to pay for YA - in theory - comes from the pockets of the recipients from future tax revenues. Only some uni graduates receive YA, but all of us will have to pay for it.

 

[BlackDragon]

Why do you make the assumption that parents should be expected to financially support adult children?

Sure, Centrelink tries to push this idea that the financial age of independence is 25 (22 if the new legislation passes through parliament) but where in society is this supported?

*Our parents don't get kids discounts when they take us out (designed to make it financially viable to entertain dependents
*There is an expectation that we move out, evidenced by nicknames like KIPPERS (kids in parents’ pockets eroding retirement savings) which show society's disdain for kids who stay at home
*We can drink, gamble, smoke, vote, drive, go to prison etc - we are fully responsible for our criminal actions but we are denied financial responsibility

Parents are forced to spend money which would have been put into retirement - increasing reliance on aged pensions and Medicare etc (the Gov has to pick up the bill rather than private health insurance companies)

---

And in addition to all this; the money to pay for YA - in theory - comes from the pockets of the recipients from future tax revenues. Only some uni graduates receive YA, but all of us will have to pay for it.

That's false. Centrelink does not push the age of financial responsibility out to 25. The money you recieve as an independent on youth allowance is much better than that if you are classed as a dependent; and as a dependent you have to meet certain preconditions to get the payment anyway. And it does not mean that the parents have to pay for you at all, it means you can be nearly independent from they because they don't have to pay for your rent and all the things you need. IN FACT, if you are classed as a dependent and have a part time job as well, you parents will never need to pay for anything. And most people at uni are on centrelink either as a dependent or independent and have part time jobs, and this removes so much burden from the parents.

 

[Slidey]

I'm neutral on Youth Allowance. I never got it, since my working single-mother parent always earnt just a bit too much, and I always just got a job.

The independence rules and income qualification rules need to be reworked though. It's too difficult for students with genuine need to qualify at the moment.

 

[Graney]

Also if anyone is caught taking illegal drugs while on youth allowance it should be cancelled .

Why is spending the money on illegal drugs worse than spending it on any other non-essential expense?

Why is spending the money on alcohol, or cigarettes, or an overseas holiday, or a big TV acceptable, but illegal drugs aren't?