Centrelink - Youth Allowance

[the_head]

Dunno if there's a thread about this already but here's my story anyway.

I'm heading off to uni next year studying engineering full time and I am wondering if I can get Youth Allowance. I don't have a job and haven't had one for a while and I am living at home with my parents. I've checked the centrelink website but it is very vague and I CBF'd sitting on the phone for hours.

What do you think my chances are?
Cheers

[Flaming_Arrow]

it depends on the salary of your parents.

[the_head]

Really?? Well they're self employed but they earn quite a bit

[orsel]

Then your chances are slim to none. Closer to none.

[hard]

none. trust me there are a lot of people who say they're like basically living off 10 dollars a day so centrelink will give prioirty to them. Not a person who lives with his parents while his parents earn quite a bit.

[melanie.dee]

Does anyone know if I can get Rent Assistance living in uni accomodation? And the out of home Youth Allowance rate? I'll be classed independent I think.

[costargh]

Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships (CAS)
http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/higher_education/programmes_funding/programme_categories/scholarships_awards_prizes/commonwealth_learning_scholarships_programme.htm#Commonwealth_Accommodation_Scholarships_(CAS)

[vce01]

Does anyone know if I can get Rent Assistance living in uni accomodation? And the out of home Youth Allowance rate? I'll be classed independent I think.

You can get RA, I believe its ~$110 per fortnight, which is the maximum. How much you get depends on how much you're paying for rent. I have to find out about the out of home thing as well tho, probably gonna call them soon.

[Eriny]

You also get a higher rate of youth allowance if you live out of home.

[happypuff]

There are two ways to get youth allowance:
-come from poor parents
-become independent

To be 'independent', you need to either have a full time job for 2 years or so (inapplicable to most people here), or have finished school at least 18 months ago and have earnt ~18k in an 18 month period (you are aiming for this), or I think be over 25 is another way
This means that if you move out of home and are completely independent of your parents you are still considered dependent and ineligible for any money until the stupid time period has past, essentially forcing you to stay at home for the next 1.5 years as you'll have no blanket if you lose your job(s) to support yourself because YA is a stupid system.
Also you can marry your roommate: http://vcenotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,4432.0.html

[excal]

I'm independent, but I'm too lazy to go claim YA.

Note: scholarships count as income for Centrelink purposes, but usually not ATO purposes (this is in exception to the Commonwealth Learning and Accommodation Scholarships, which don't count for Centrelink as well).

[wallah11]

you can maybe try for low income health care card if your oer 18 and your income is under ~450 pw

[excal]

The irony is that, by becoming independent, I don't exactly need the money - as much as it would be nice. Call it, independent from parents AND Centrelink.

[dwy0001]

Edited.

[costargh]

The other extreme way of being considered independent is through marriage. It is not uncommon for university students to get married for the pure convenience of obtaining an allowance why they study.

That's what I'm doing