How to claim

Before you start, check if you’re eligible for this payment.

You can only claim this payment from 1 January in your first year of tertiary study.

To claim, follow these steps.

Steps to claim Tertiary Access Payment

1.  

   1. Get ready to claim

   You need to have your Centrelink online account linked to myGov to claim the Tertiary Access Payment.

   If you don’t have these, you’ll need to set them up.

   You may also need to prove your identity with us before you start your claim.

2.  

   2. Get your documents ready

   You'll need to get some supporting documents ready to help answer some of the questions in the claim.

   You'll need to give us:

   • your study details
   • details of your parents’ income.

   If you don’t give us this information during the claim, we might ask you for it in a letter we send to your myGov inbox. You’ll get the letter about 6 weeks after your course starts.

   Depending on your situation, you may also need to give us evidence of why you:

   • can’t start your course in the 12 months following completion of year 12 or equivalent
   • don’t need to supply your parents’ income
   • can’t claim the Tertiary Access Payment by 31 December of the year you start studying.

   You may be unable to claim the Tertiary Access Payment by 31 December of the year you start studying. If this happens, you’ll need to contact us within 14 days after this closing date. We can let you know how to submit your claim and what extra information you may need to give us.

3.  

   3. Submit a claim

   If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, sign in now. Select Apply for the Tertiary Access Payment to start your claim.

   Sign in to myGov

   There’s help on each screen, including how to submit your supporting documents.

   Your parents will need to provide us with details of their income using the Advise Parental Income service. We’ll give you a Verification Code at the end of the claim so your parents can give us this information.

   If you can’t claim online you can call us on the Youth and Students line.

4.  

   4. Confirm your study details

   We need you to give us this information as soon as you can so your claim isn’t delayed or rejected. If you’re eligible and still enrolled, we’ll pay you after this check.

   Before we can pay you, we need you to:

   • update your address to where you’ll be living while you study
   • confirm your study details if we send you a letter asking you to do an online review.
5.  

   5. Wait for the result

   We’ll let you know the outcome of your claim in writing.

   If you think we’ve made a mistake you can ask us to review our decision.