When organising an overnight away from base activity you should arrange a reasonably priced residential expenses package. This is where you package costs with service providers for multiple students to save money. You can do this by packaging any of the following:
- travel
- accommodation
- meal costs.
We work out reasonable costs when you claim. If you organise accommodation, meals or travel costs that are more expensive, we might not cover the full activity costs.
Which accommodation costs we cover
You should book rooms that are modest, comfortable and based on a twin share basis. We don’t cover the costs of room service, mini bar purchases or phone calls.
Read more about travel allowances, including the reasonable travel rate on the Australia Taxation Office’s website.
Which meals we pay for
Meal costs are reasonable if they are under the ATO travel allowance rates for that location. You should try to organise meals that are healthy and of reasonable quality. We don’t cover the costs of snacks, morning or afternoon tea.
In some cases, the residential expenses package you organise with a service provider will not include all meals. For example, a package may include breakfast, accommodation and dinner but not lunch. In this case, we may approve a separate meal allowance for lunch.
Which travel costs we cover
The rules for reasonable travel costs under ABSTUDY Fares Allowance are different for each type of transport. The rules will depend on the journey costs involved in the away from base activity.
You should try to organise an economy class rail or bus service using the most direct route. If rail or bus services aren’t available, we may pay the allowance for economy airfares or motor vehicle trips. We may also pay for chartered transport in limited circumstances.
You can ask us to arrange the travel for you by sending an email to us abstudy.travel@servicesaustralia.gov.au.
Read about what you need to know when making travel requests.