leaving home. what are my options? (1 Viewer)

[bigboyjames]

hey guys. im considering leaving home. just want to no if centrelink help out uni students who have left home.

what are my options? how mcuh hours do i need to work to get help from centrelink

can i get you allowance?
what can i get?!
i sorta dont no anything coz knowone i know has ever claimed cetrelink

all help welcomed

thankyou

PS: i screwed up my uni timetable. i go to uts. im only doing 18 credit points this semester (f.uck you uts!)

so can i qualify?

 

[Peartie]

www.centrelink.gov.au

 

[melimoo]

you have to be under 24. studying full time. been out of school for 18 months. have earnt the threshold amount (which currently stands at about $18530) by working since being out of school

 

[crazy_paki]

^ so does that mean if i leave home i cant get anything from the govt.

 

[Peartie]

you have to be under 24. studying full time. been out of school for 18 months. have earnt the threshold amount (which currently stands at about $18530) by working since being out of school

thats for Youth Allowance

My advice is just go to Centrelink and find out

But yes, from memory you need to be 18 months out of school and earnt that amount.... you can also get it if you are working full time rather than studying full time.....

Im not sure but I think if you move out of home you can claim independence - or at least its easier to claim independence...Just ask centrelink

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

If you go straight into full time study after school (i.e., you haven't worked for 18 months), do you still qualify for YA or anything related to it if you move out of home? Doesn't seem right that you have to work for a year and a half before you can go study and get centrelink.

 

[A High Way Man]

if you havent been qualified as independent, you can still get it. but your combined parents income cant exceed some number ~35k

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

if you havent been qualified as independent, you can still get it. but your combined parents income cant exceed some number ~35k

Oh I see. I applied for it last year and bombed out because of that. 35k is a ridiculously low threshold for the combined income of parents with dependent children, I would have expected it to be more in the area of 50k or so.

 

[bigboyjames]

gonna call the link tomorrow.

another question:

i no a friend who has a spare room wih bathroom and shower attached and he said he can let me stay for $80 a week. but he said it has to be cash in hand. shifty business type of shit.
by doing this can i ask for rent assistant. or does it have to be legit to ask for that help?

 

[^CoSMic DoRiS^^]

gonna call the link tomorrow.

another question:

i no a friend who has a spare room wih bathroom and shower attached and he said he can let me stay for $80 a week. but he said it has to be cash in hand. shifty business type of shit.
by doing this can i ask for rent assistant. or does it have to be legit to ask for that help?

forgive my ignorance but I kind of thought cash in hand was the standard way you paid rent. At least, when my parents were renting like 20 years ago that's what they did and it was all totally legit. so I'm fairly sure you could look at getting rent assistance in that situation? Don't take my word for it though :/

 

[selablad]

I think the centerlink criteria for independence are a bit weird. My parents' income is above the threshold for YA, but I am (most probably) going to be leaving home to go to uni and my parents aren't going to be paying anything for me (unless I ask them for a loan, but I mean, I would be expected to pay it off just like a regular loan, and I don't particularly like the idea of being dependent on them too much). I plan on getting a job to support myself in uni, and relying on maybe scholarship money, etc. I was looking on the centerlink website, and it had something about if you're married or something you are eligible to be classed as independent?? I find that absurd, considering there is nothing stopping your parents from giving you money if you are married, but people in situations where their parents aren't paying for anything are just expected to survive on their own... Is there anything available for people in that situation?

Sorry if that was a little random...I just found it a bit weird...

 

[bigboyjames]

forgive my ignorance but I kind of thought cash in hand was the standard way you paid rent. At least, when my parents were renting like 20 years ago that's what they did and it was all totally legit. so I'm fairly sure you could look at getting rent assistance in that situation? Don't take my word for it though :/

well what i mean is he doesnt want to declare it as income.

 

[blue_chameleon]

gonna call the link tomorrow.

another question:

i no a friend who has a spare room wih bathroom and shower attached and he said he can let me stay for $80 a week. but he said it has to be cash in hand. shifty business type of shit.
by doing this can i ask for rent assistant. or does it have to be legit to ask for that help?

When you apply for rent assistance, Centrelink need to sight the lease for the property you are renting. So technically, if you can get your friend to draw up a lease for you, then you're eligible.

Realistically though, with it being shifty business and all, it can so easily come back to bight you, as Centrelink and the ATO work very closely together these days, and if either get a sniff that you're doing something improper/illegal, then you're in trouble for the next 20 years with them going over your tax returns with a fine tooth comb, or maybe even worse.

My opinion, disregarding the illegality of it, is that the benefit you'd get from paying $80/week would definately not be worth the high risk of getting caught, or potentially bringing your friend into it as well.

EDIT: Paying that rent, you'd be eligible for about $20/week in rent assistance.

 

[Peartie]

Rent assist - you need to have another form of Centrelink benefit as well (be it Youth Allowance or Ausstudy or whatever else)

I remember when I was talking to them a couple of years ago - when I was going to be moving to Canberra for Uni, they said that if you arent living in the family home, paying your own rent and studying full time it was alot easier to claim independence....You still would have to wait the 18 months though....or 12 in special circumstances.....