If you apply for Youth Allowance, you'll be assessed as being dependent or independent for payment.

The 2018-19 Budget has a Youth and Students measure that may change this information for regional, rural and remote students. The measure is subject to the passage of legislation.

Dependent

If you're 21 or younger, you're dependent unless you meet one of the conditions described below. This means your parents' or guardians' income affects if you get a payment and how much you get.

Independent

If you're 22 or older, we consider you independent.

If you're younger than 22, you may be independent if you:

can show you support yourself through work

are, or have been, married or are in a registered relationship

live in a de facto relationship as a member of a couple for at least 12 months

have, or have had, a dependent child

are a job seeker assessed as being able to work less than 30 hours a week due to long-term disability, illness or injury

are unable to live at home due to extreme circumstances

have parents who can't look after you

are a refugee and your parents don't live in Australia

are an orphan and haven't been legally adopted, or

are in state care, or you left because of your age

Independent through work

Full time work

You may be independent if you support yourself through full time paid work for at least 18 months within any 2 year period. You don't need to work for 18 months in a row, or in the same job. Full time work is an average of 30 hours a week.

If you don't consistently work 30 hours a week, you can average your work hours over a period of up to 13 weeks.

Paid work includes:

paid leave

overseas work

unpaid leave due to employer shutdown outside of your control

full time apprenticeships and traineeships

See if you're considered independent using the check independence through work history tool.

Part time work or earnings for rural and remote students

You may be independent if:

your parental home is in an inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote area

you need to move away from the parental home to study, and

since leaving secondary school, you have: over a 14 month period, earned 75% or more of Wage Level A of the National Training Wage Schedule included in a modern award, or for at least 2 years, worked at least 15 hours a week


It also depends on your parents' or guardians' income. If you claim in 2018, they must have earned less than $150,000 in the 2016-2017 financial year. If their income has changed a lot, we'll look at the current tax year.

You need to give us proof that you meet these requirements.

Find out which area your family home is in using the Student Regional Area Search service.

Unable to live at home

You may be independent if you can't live at home due to extreme circumstances. This includes family breakdown, violence, or serious risk to your safety and wellbeing. A social worker will assess this if you're under 18.