Financial advice

Austudy
Student financial aid and student loans

Austudy

Information regarding Austudy eligibility plus guides and application forms are available from Austudy lodgement centres, CES lodgement centres, the student financial aid offices and the student welfare offices. See contact names and numbers following the section `Student financial aid and student loans'.

Austudy is meant to assist students who need money to study. Not all students are eligible for such assistance, and not all students get the same amount of assistance. Whether you are eligible, and how much you get, depends on such matters as:

how much you, your spouse, your de facto partner or parents earn;
the value of the assets you, your spouse, your de facto partner or your family have;
whether you need to live away from home;
what course you are studying;
how many years you have been studying;
when you applied.

To be eligible for Austudy, you normally need to be undertaking 75 per cent or more of a normal full-time student workload in each semester of a course. Where a course is subject to HECS, you are required to have a HECS loading of at lease 0.375 for each semester. If you reduce your workload and cease to be undertaking a HECS load of 0.375 or more, you generally cease to be eligible for Austudy.

However, do not assume that you are not eligible. Always put in an application in case you may be eligible.

The student financial adviser and the student welfare office can assist you in making Young Homeless applications, but you must apply before 31 March to ensure your payments are back-dated to the start of the year.

Student financial aid and student loans

Monash University has access to student loan funds to assist those students who are experiencing financial difficulties which would affect their ability to complete their course successfully. These are recycling funds and are designed to financially assist as many students as possible. The student financial aid office offers a range of interest-free emergency and short-term loans in addition to long-term low-interest loans. These may be made to enrolled students undertaking an approved course of study at the university to cover basic living expenses and subsistence, essential book and course materials and to alleviate unexpected financial problems. There is a limit on the amount that first-year students can borrow. Loans are generally not available to students in their first semester at Monash.

The university does not have sufficient funds to lend for amenities fees, course fees, assistance with the payment of any HECS liability or any type of visa charges for international students.

All students are encouraged to discuss their particular financial difficulties with the student financial adviser before applying for a student loan. Priority is given to full-time students in the middle years of their courses working down to first-year, part-time, postgraduate and distance education students. Students must supply evidence of financial need and be completing their studies successfully. Academic progress is taken into account when loans are considered and a loan may be refused because of unsatisfactory progress.

Depending on the amount needed, students may be required to nominate a guarantor who preferably should be over twenty-five years of age, in full-time employment and residing in the State of Victoria.

Students are urged to contact the student financial office as soon as their need becomes apparent. All efforts are made to keep delays to a minimum but it is in the student's interest to lodge an application as soon as possible. Students agree to repay the loan according to a repayment schedule which is negotiated individually with each student.

Students must apply to the student financial adviser of the campus on which they are enrolled.

BER
Student Services, second floor. Telephone 9904 7111
CAU
Ms Jennie Carroll, student financial adviser, Community Services building, 7 Princes Avenue, Caulfield East. Telephone 9903 2500
CLA
Ms Yana Veksler, student financial adviser, first floor, Union building (above bookshop). Telephone 9905 3064
PAR
Austudy: Ms Margaret Duncan, ground floor, Scott building. Telephone 9903 9000

Student financial aid and student loans: Michael Watson, registrar, ground floor, Sissons building. Telephone 9903 9000
PFR
Mr Peter Bailey, student financial adviser, Community Services, ground floor, A block. Telephone 9904 4223
GIP
Ms Verona Beasley, student financial adviser. Telephone 9902 6232

Handbook Contents | Faculty Handbooks | Monash University

BER	Student Services, second floor. Telephone 9904 7111
CAU	Ms Jennie Carroll, student financial adviser, Community Services building, 7 Princes Avenue, Caulfield East. Telephone 9903 2500
CLA	Ms Yana Veksler, student financial adviser, first floor, Union building (above bookshop). Telephone 9905 3064
PAR	Austudy: Ms Margaret Duncan, ground floor, Scott building. Telephone 9903 9000
	Student financial aid and student loans: Michael Watson, registrar, ground floor, Sissons building. Telephone 9903 9000
PFR	Mr Peter Bailey, student financial adviser, Community Services, ground floor, A block. Telephone 9904 4223
GIP	Ms Verona Beasley, student financial adviser. Telephone 9902 6232