Are you getting a student payment this year?

In the coming months, there’ll be some changes due to COVID-19.

Coronavirus Supplement extension

From 1 January 2021, we’ll pay the temporary Coronavirus Supplement at a rate of $150 per fortnight. You’ll get the supplement until 31 March 2021 if you’re getting at least $1 of any of these following payments:

• Youth Allowance
• Austudy
• ABSTUDY Living Allowance.

Debt pause ending

If you owe money to Centrelink, you may have had a break from repaying money you owe. This break was in response to COVID-19 and will end in February 2021. This means if you owe money, you'll need to start repaying it from February.

Waiting periods waiver ending

On 31 March 2021, our temporary waiver for the following waiting periods ends:

• Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Period
• Seasonal Work Preclusion Period.

After this date, these waiting periods may apply to you.

Updates we may need

In this new year, make sure you tell us about any changes to your circumstances within 14 days. This includes if you’ve done any of the following:

• dropped a subject
• changed courses
• changed where you study
• stopped studying completely
• started a job.

If you don’t, we may pay you the wrong payment or the wrong amount. This means you may end up owing money that you’ll have to pay back.

You can let us know about your change of circumstances using either:

• the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app
• your Centrelink online account through myGov.

More information

You can read more about upcoming changes due to COVID-19 if you’re a student. Add the page to your favourites or bookmarks to stay up to date.

You can also subscribe to regular news updates about student payments. We send these updates directly to your email.