ABSTUDY Policy Manual 2004 - Home

Chapter 132 Student Income Bank

The Student Income Bank allows a student to accumulate any unused part of their allowable income limit per fortnight up to the maximum accumulated limit while studying without affecting their Living Allowance. This chapter explains access to the student income bank and higher income free area.

Chapter content

This chapter contains the following topics:

Student Income Bank

Access to Student Income Bank and Higher Income Free Area

Operation of Student Income Bank

132.1 Student Income Bank

It has been designed to reflect the fact that students generally earn income through the holiday periods, rather than throughout the year. The Student Income Bank operates by saving the unused part of the fortnightly income free area as credits. The saved credits are then available to offset the personal income/earnings in future fortnights.

132.1.1 Credit rules

The following rules apply to the student income bank:

the maximum credit that can be saved is maximum $6000;
the balance is not set to zero annually;
all credits are annulled when a student stops full-time study; and
continuing students retain their credits over vacation periods.

132.2 Access to Student Income Bank and Higher Income Free Area

Students have access to both the student income bank and the higher income free area commencing from their ABSTUDY eligibility start date.

132.2.1 Cessation of access to Student Income Bank and Higher Income Free Area

A student ceases to be eligible to access the Student Income Bank and Higher Income Free Area on the date that the course ends or their last day of study.

132.3 Operation of Student Income Bank

The following table shows how the student income bank operates when a student has ordinary income in a fortnight.

Table 35 - Operation of Student Income Bank

If the income is	Then...	And...
Less than the income free area	subtract the income from the income free area to determine the saved amount	add the saved amount to the student's student income bank credits
Equal to the income free area	there is no effect on payment	there is no effect on the student income bank
Greater than the income free area, but less than or equal to the student income bank credit	subtract the income free area from the income to determine the reduction for income	subtract the reduction to income from both the student income bank credit and the ordinary income. The effect is that there is no ordinary income for the fortnight
Greater than both the free area and the student income bank credit	subtract the student income bank credit from the income to determine the student income bank debit	reduce the student income bank credit to zero. The income bank does not run into minus amounts