Fares Allowance

What Is This Payment?

Fares Allowance helps students who have to live away from their permanent home to attend tertiary study with the cost of travelling between the two. It is not an income payment in itself — it sits on top of a qualifying student payment and reimburses specific journeys.

The rule database tags it as a Group B benefit with eligibility_only as its result role, inside the Student Support cluster, with a financial-year scope. It covers students on Youth Allowance (student), Austudy, ABSTUDY and the Pensioner Education Supplement, though ABSTUDY recipients are served through the separate ABSTUDY Fares Allowance provisions.

The allowance generally covers a return trip at the start and end of the academic year, and travel for certain breaks, by the most economical means of transport. The point is that a student should not be deterred from studying away from home simply because they cannot afford the trips back and forth.

How Much Can You Get?

The amount block is eligibility_only with period: none because reimbursement depends on the actual journeys, costed by the most economical transport.

• Start and end of year travel between your permanent home and your place of study.
• Some break travel during the academic year, within the allowance's limits.
• Most economical transport — reimbursement is based on the cheapest practical means of making the trip.

Eligibility Conditions

The eligibility block is an all set.

1. Full-time student: full_time_student_or_apprentice = true. You are a full-time tertiary student.
2. Living away from home: living_away_from_home = true. You must live away from your permanent home to undertake the study.
3. On a qualifying student payment: receiving_ya_student_or_austudy_or_abstudy = true. You receive Youth Allowance (student), Austudy, ABSTUDY or the Pensioner Education Supplement.

The connecting thread is that you are studying away from your permanent home and already receive a qualifying student payment — Fares Allowance reimburses the travel that this living arrangement makes necessary. ABSTUDY recipients access the equivalent through the ABSTUDY Fares Allowance.

Required fields are full_time_student_or_apprentice, living_away_from_home and receiving_ya_student_or_austudy_or_abstudy. The product surfaces Fares Allowance to away-from-home students because it is a quiet add-on to the main student payment that many students never claim.

How To Apply

The channel is online through Services Australia, with travel receipts or details of the journeys. You claim the travel that your away-from-home study requires.

• Keep details and receipts for your trips between your permanent home and your place of study.
• Lodge a Fares Allowance claim with Services Australia for the eligible journeys.
• If you receive ABSTUDY, claim through the ABSTUDY Fares Allowance provisions instead.

Read the official Fares Allowance guidance

Rule-Based Scenarios

Scenario 1: country student at a city university

A student from a regional town receives Youth Allowance and lives in the city to attend university. Fares Allowance reimburses their travel home at the start and end of the academic year.

Scenario 2: Austudy student travelling for breaks

An older student on Austudy living away from home claims Fares Allowance for eligible break travel during the year, costed by the most economical transport.

Scenario 3: ABSTUDY pathway

An ABSTUDY recipient claims their travel through the separate ABSTUDY Fares Allowance provisions rather than the general Fares Allowance.

Scenario 4: not claiming

A student living away from home pays for their own trips home each year, unaware that Fares Allowance would reimburse the eligible journeys.

Common Mistakes

• Not realising it exists: Fares Allowance is a quiet add-on to the main student payment that many away-from-home students never claim.
• Losing travel details: keep receipts and journey details so your reimbursement claim is straightforward.
• Assuming it pays a flat amount: it reimburses actual eligible journeys, costed by the most economical transport.
• Claiming the wrong scheme on ABSTUDY: ABSTUDY recipients use the separate ABSTUDY Fares Allowance provisions.
• Thinking part-time students qualify: the allowance is for full-time tertiary students who must live away from home.
• Overlooking break travel: as well as start and end of year, some break travel during the year can be covered.

Related Benefits

• Youth Allowance (student) — a qualifying payment for Fares Allowance.
• Austudy — income support for older full-time students.
• Pensioner Education Supplement — study help for income support recipients.
• Relocation Scholarship — help with the cost of moving to study away from home.
• Assistance for Isolated Children — help for families whose children must study away from home.
• Tertiary Access Payment — help for regional and remote school leavers moving for tertiary study.

Frequently Asked Questions