Austudy - single, with dependent child

What Is This Payment?

Austudy single with child is the principal-carer branch of Austudy, the federal income support for full-time students aged 25 and over. In the rule database it is tagged as a monetary primary Federal benefit in the Austudy parent cluster, with rule tags students, austudy, centrelink, single, and parent. The entitlement scope is per person and ongoing, paid for the duration of qualifying study.

The administering body is Services Australia. The intake channels are the Centrelink online claim through myGov and a service centre visit; phone-only intake is not configured for this rule. The same Austudy claim form covers all three sibling rules - single no child, single with child, and partnered - and the form steers the applicant into the correct branch once relationship and dependent-children fields are captured.

Position this rule clearly as Youth Allowance Student's older-cohort cousin in the parenting branch: the eligibility framing is identical (full-time approved course, residency, presence in Australia, principal-carer status), but the age band starts at 25 rather than ending there. The carer uplift in this rule mirrors the principal-carer uplift inside the YA Student with-child variant, sized at $177.00 above the no-child base of $677.20. Per-child cash flows separately through Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B; the higher Austudy base is a carer-cost recognition, not an additional child-level payment.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount block is defined as a formula paid fortnightly. Base is $854.20 per fortnight. The rule note records this as the January 2026 official value confirmed against the Services Australia rate page (the figure is shared with the Youth Allowance Student single-with-child rate). Annualised across 26 fortnights the unreduced figure is roughly $22,209.20 per year. The output display period is yearly; assessment mechanics remain fortnightly.

The income test runs as one cumulative step. The taper taps in at income_fortnightly > 539: every dollar above $539 reduces the payment by 50 cents. The threshold and rate are identical to the no-child rule; the only thing that changes is the headroom before cut-out, because the higher $854.20 base needs more taper-zone earnings to fully erode. At $800 of fortnightly income the reduction is 50 percent of $261 ($130.50), leaving $723.70 payable. At $1,500 of fortnightly income the reduction is 50 percent of $961 ($480.50), leaving $373.70 payable.

The cut-out point happens when the taper reduction equals the base. Solving the formula: $854.20 divided by the 0.5 rate equals $1,708.40 of taper-zone earnings, plus the $539 free area, gives a cut-out around $2,247.40 per fortnight. Above that fortnightly earnings level the payment is zero. The single-with-child cut-out sits $354.00 higher than the no-child cut-out of $1,893.40, reflecting the larger base.

The amount floor cap is minimum $0. There is no negative payout path. If the reduction equals or exceeds $854.20, the estimated Austudy amount for that reporting fortnight is zero.

You can audit any estimate with a four-step recipe matching the YAML structure. First, confirm the base of $854.20. Second, compute the assessable excess as max(income_fortnightly - 539, 0). Third, multiply the excess by 0.5. Fourth, subtract the result from the base and clamp at zero. The single-step cumulative mode means there are no extra bands. Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B sit in their own rule blocks and do not affect this Austudy calculation directly.

The rule stores an empty multiplier, no reduces_if entries, and no date_windows. Per-child supplements are not part of this amount block - they live in FTB rules. The carer-cost differential between this rule's $854.20 and the no-child rule's $677.20 is built into the base, not into a multiplier or supplement.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set, so every item must pass.

1. Age floor: age >= 25. People under 25 with dependent children route to the Youth Allowance Student with-child rule, which uses the same $854.20 base.
2. Residency status: residency_status in {australian_citizen, permanent_resident, special_category_visa, other_eligible_visa}. Bridging visas and most temporary visa classes are out of scope.
3. Presence in Australia: living_in_australia = true. Austudy is generally not portable for extended overseas study.
4. Full-time study or apprenticeship: full_time_student_or_apprentice = true. Application notes record at least 75 percent of full-time load with limited 25 percent concession in approved cases.
5. Partner status: partner_status = single. Anyone partnered routes to the partnered Austudy rule with the lower base of $677.20.
6. Has dependent children: dependent_children = true. The principal-carer status is verified through the Centrelink care-percentage record; a child living with the applicant at least 35 percent of the time generally qualifies.

Required fields for assessment are explicit: age, residency status, partner status, dependent children, full-time student status, fortnightly income, and living-in-Australia status. Proof-of-dependent-children evidence is requested at intake; without it the dependent-children gate cannot be confirmed and the claim cannot progress to the amount calculation.

The exclude block is empty in this rule version. The conflicts list records that this rule cannot coexist with Austudy single no-child within the same evaluation pass; if the dependent-children status changes (the youngest child moves out or care percentage falls below the principal-carer threshold), the case routes to the no-child rule rather than recalculating in place.

Two practical considerations sit at the edge of the eligibility test. First, the principal-carer status is reviewed annually and any time the care arrangement changes; a shift from primary to shared care can flip the rule from with-child back to no-child mid-year. Second, when the youngest dependent child stops being a dependent (for example, they reach an age where Centrelink no longer recognises dependency for FTB purposes), the carer uplift evaporates and the rate drops to $677.20.

How To Apply

Application metadata defines two channels: online and service centre. The online channel through myGov is the fastest because the dependent-children link can be verified electronically against the existing Centrelink customer record if the child is already on file from a prior FTB or Family Assistance claim.

Evidence requirements are explicitly listed in the rule and should be prepared in advance:

• identity document (driver licence or passport, with secondary documents matching the Centrelink points test)
• enrolment confirmation issued by the registered education provider, showing the unit list and percentage of full-time load
• tax file number
• proof of dependent children - a birth certificate, court parenting order, or care-arrangement statutory declaration

Two practical tips help with this rule. First, link the dependent child to the Centrelink record before lodging Austudy; if the child is already on file (for example through a previous FTB claim), the proof-of-dependent-children step is satisfied automatically and the claim flows faster. Second, lodge any care-percentage change within 14 days. The rule's principal-carer status is sensitive to small care swings and Centrelink reviews trigger overpayment debts when the care percentage record lags behind the actual living arrangement.

Apply on the official Services Australia page

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: full base, casual earnings under the free area

Marisol is 33, single, primary carer of a 4-year-old, completing a Bachelor of Social Work at a Melbourne campus on 100 percent load. She earns $400 per fortnight from an after-school casual role. Earnings are under the $539 free area, so the income test does not trigger. The rule pays the full base of $854.20 per fortnight, equal to about $22,209.20 per year. Marisol also receives the auto-issued Low Income Health Care Card and CRA-eligible status for the single-with-1-2-child branch.

Scenario 2: middle of the taper zone

Tomislav is 28, single, primary carer of a 6-year-old, doing a graduate certificate at 75 percent load while picking up tutoring shifts of $1,100 per fortnight. Earnings above the $539 free area are $561. The 50 cent rate produces a reduction of $280.50. Estimated Austudy is $573.70 per fortnight, on top of which Tomislav keeps the $1,100 wage. Family Tax Benefit Part A and Part B continue to flow through the FTB rules independently of this calculation.

Scenario 3: above the cut-out

Adaeze is 30, single, primary carer of a 3-year-old, returning to a research masters at 100 percent load while consulting freelance for $2,400 per fortnight. Earnings above $539 are $1,861; the 50 cent rate produces a reduction of $930.50, which exceeds the $854.20 base. The floor cap clamps the estimate at $0. Adaeze still keeps the LIHCC because card retention rules grant a grace period when payment drops to nil for a short period.

Scenario 4: routed off this rule by partnering up

Yara is 26, primary carer of a 5-year-old. Mid-semester she enters a de facto relationship and reports the change. The eligibility test partner_status = single now fails. The case routes to the partnered Austudy rule, which uses a lower base of $677.20 because the carer uplift is not preserved when the household becomes a couple - the partner's income test absorbs that headroom in a different way.

Common Mistakes

• Treating the carer uplift as a per-child payment: the $177.00 lift over $677.20 is a single base bump tied to having any dependent child, not a per-child supplement. Adding $177 for each child overstates the rate; per-child funding flows separately through FTB Part A and Part B.
• Skipping proof of dependent children evidence: the YAML evidence_required list explicitly names proof_of_dependent_children. Lodging without a birth certificate, court parenting order, or care-arrangement declaration leaves the dependent-children gate unverified and the claim parked at the assessor desk.
• Confusing principal-carer status with shared 50/50 care: Centrelink's care-percentage threshold for principal-carer status is around 35 percent. A 50/50 arrangement still grants principal-carer status to one parent; both parents claiming Austudy single-with-child for the same child is a routing error.
• Forgetting the youngest-child age transition: when the youngest dependent child stops being a dependent for FTB purposes, this rule's dependent_children = true can flip to false. The case routes to Austudy single no-child at $677.20 and the $177.00 monthly uplift is lost without a separate transition payment.
• Reading the $854.20 base as locked in for the year: Austudy is reassessed each reporting fortnight against current income. A six-week temporary contract that pushes earnings above $2,247.40 produces three full nil-rate fortnights, even if the annualised income is below the cut-out.
• Conflating the JobSeeker with-child rate with this rule: JobSeeker single-with-child uses a different rate ($866.00) and a two-tier $150/$256 taper, not $854.20 and the single $539 step. Mixing the two rule bases when modelling a transition between unemployment and study leads to wrong forecasts.

Related Benefits

The conflicts list and affects list in this rule define interaction behaviour with sibling Austudy rules and adjacent Centrelink payments.

• Austudy - single, no dependent child - the lower-base sibling ($677.20) for single full-time students aged 25-plus without dependent children; conflict listed by name.
• Austudy - partnered - the partnered branch with a $677.20 base and a partner income test; routed when partner_status = partnered.
• Youth Allowance Student - independent, single, with child - the under-25 cousin rule with the same $854.20 base; the typical pre-Austudy path for student parents aged 22 to 24.
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance - independent (16+) - the parallel cohort path for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students; same rate schedule plus travel and away-from-home allowances.
• Commonwealth Rent Assistance - single, 1 to 2 children - directly enabled by this rule through the affects list, providing a top-up for renting principal carers in the private market.
• Family Tax Benefit Part A - base rate - commonly received alongside this rule for the same household; FTB Part A delivers per-child cash separately from the carer-uplift base in Austudy.

Frequently Asked Questions