REFORMS to student income support payments are set to pass the Senate this week after the federal government and opposition finally brokered a deal that exempts rural students from tougher eligibility rules.
In a move that Opposition Education spokesman Christopher Pyne called a backdown, the government agreed yesterday to ensure students who have begun a gap year will not be hit retrospectively by the changes, according to The Australian Financial Review.
The impasse was resolved late yesterday after lengthy negotiations over the reforms, which will require students to work 30 hours a week for 18 months to qualify as independent so that their eligibility is not determined by their parents' income.
Students whose parents earn less than $150,000 a year and come from "remote", "very remote" or "outer regional" areas as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics will be assessed under the current, more generous eligibility rules. But Mr Pyne said there were still many regional students who would miss out. He said the Coalition would review the changes if it won the election.
"The Coalition remains committed to addressing rural and regional inequity, there will still be some students who may miss out under the changes from rural and regional Australia," he said.
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