Centrelink - Full Time > Part Time Student (1 Viewer)

[babez_hamp]

I'm on Centrelink as an individual full-time university student but i want to change to a part-time student just for this semester. i need my centrelink benefit but i think you can only get it as a full-time student. so my question is, if i drop 2 subjects over the student internet service, will it automatically change my status to 'part-time'..and if it does, given that there's only 8 more weeks left in the semester, what's my chances of getting caught ? thank....

 

[timbk2]

dont you need at least 18 credit points to be considered full-time.

but yea, dont risk it. I know people owing them $3000 +, cause they got payments while they wernt exactly full-time students. ie. doing 1-2 subjects

 

[babez_hamp]

i know it's a risk but i figured even if i do get caught, i'll only have received 3 payments cause next semester i'm full-time again.

 

[Minai]

dont you need at least 18 credit points to be considered full-time.

but yea, dont risk it. I know people owing them $3000 +, cause they got payments while they wernt exactly full-time students. ie. doing 1-2 subjects

Damn..how'd centrelink find out though?

 

[Frigid]

Damn..how'd centrelink find out though?

see how much HECS you owe that yr.. it's not hard for centrelink to ask ATO or even the uni itself

 

[LeftrightOut]

Well let's see now. You are past the HECS drop date so you pay that anyway. Unless you don't want a Fail on your results sheet I would recommend take the Fail. If Centrelink do an audit they will see you did not complete X subjects, in fact X subjects didn't even show up in the end, meaning that you were not a full time student for the entire semester. So your 3 payments suddenly turn into a lot more.

Don't go off credit points, read your HECS liability notice and check out the EFTSL, for Centrelink you need 0.375 or higher per semester which usually means 3 subjects.

 

[iamsickofyear12]

Can't full time students decide to only do 2 subjects in a semester instead of 4, and make it up later.

 

[babez_hamp]

that's what i thought cause i'm doing 2 this semester and then 5 next semester and 1 in summer

 

[LeftrightOut]

Don't think! Research and clarify from official sources.
http://www.centrelink.gov.au/internet/internet.nsf/payments/qual_fts_yal.htm

For Youth Allowance, full-time study means:
-your course is considered full-time by the institution where you are studying
-you are doing at least 75 per cent of the full-time workload and -you will finish the course in the minimum 'allowable' time
-your course attracts a HECS loading of at least 0.375 per semester, or
-if none of these apply, you are attending a minimum of 15 hours a week of face-to-face study.

You may also be considered a full-time student if your minimum workload is reduced to at least 66 per cent of the normal full-time workload because of:
-the institution's normal requirements for the course, or
-a specific direction in writing from your deputy principal, academic registrar or equivalent officer, or
-a written recommendation from your deputy principal, academic registrar or equivalent officer for academic or vocational reasons.

Now you might be thinking "oh point 1 says if the uni syays it's full time then it is no matter how many subjects I do" this would be incorrect as you do not meet the other requirements. Note that you still need to do at least 66% equivalent full time load with permission to be considered full time, so your dropping 2 out of 4 subjects will not work no matter what you try. I know people who have tried, they all failed but you are welcome to try, just don't be surprised when they ask for all of their money back. If you drop to 50% you need to go on newstart and fill out fortnightly activity reports. It goes over a semester not a year.

For Youth Allowance, part-time study means:
-you have a study load less than 75 per cent of a full-time workload, and
-you need to enter a Preparing for Work Agreement and undertake other activities to make up a full-time workload (for example, Job Search).

 

[babez_hamp]

do u mean all of the money i've ever received from centrelink or just for the time i haven't been a full-time student ?

 

[LeftrightOut]

do u mean all of the money i've ever received from centrelink or just for the time i haven't been a full-time student ?

I mean the money for that semester which you claimed to be a full time student but were not. They won't take your money for when you were legitimately a full time student, only the time period which you claimed a certain payment to which you were not entitled to.

Another one students often get caught out on is if they move away to go to uni, they forget to let centrelink know that at the end of semester 2 when they go home for summer holidays they are no longer "away from home" so not entitled to away from home allowance for that period.

I don't work for centrelink, I just had a lengthy presentation from the regional fraud prevention officer on how people mess up. So you better double check with centrelink themselves if you want to be super sure on any of this.

 

[LeftrightOut]

So the the minimum ofunits you can do to be considered full time is 3 units

Some Universities have one semester units that count as .250 for HECS purposes instead of .125. But yes generally each undergraduate unit/subject is worth .125 so doing 4 per semester gives you .500 load and doing 8 a year gives you 1.000 or a full time load. Hence to meet a .375 per semester load you'd need at least 3 normal subjects or one .250 subject and one .125 subject.

And it is per semester so double check with centrelink whether they accept your summer semester catch up units in Sem 1 calculations or not.

At TAFE we work to the face to face hours rule not HECS equivalency.

 

[stazi]

Does anyone know how long it takes for a claim to be processed and for money to be in your account>?

 

[Skittled]

Less than a month. They told me it's usually 2-3 weeks, but they've gotta say more than that. Took them 2 weeks and this was at ~ christmas time which is apparently their busiest time...

In case it's not been said, centrelink ties in with your uni's enrolment system, somehow. When I signed up I thought I had to provide proof of being enrolled full time. They didn't bother photocopying it or even taking those pages (I had a printout from the pdf form they provide online) that was the proof I was full time. ...few weeks later they sent me a letter saying that everything was cool and I'd be receiving money soon, so I assume they checked.

From there, you'll only get caught if they do an audit on your account, or whatever they call it... I still don't think that's worth the risk... from there it's not something you should feel good about doing. If you're not eligible there's a reason for that decision.