1.2.7.40 Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS) - description
The SFSS
No financial supplement loans are available from 1 January 2004.
This means that no new loans are available under this scheme from 1 January 2004.
For existing loans, a person's loan repayment arrangements will continue unchanged. Students were able to make voluntary repayments to the CBA during the first 5 years of their loan contract. The Commonwealth Government bought back the loans and collects repayments through the taxation system. Loan recipients do not have to repay their loan until their income is above the specified level.
The following SFSS guideline references remain for historical purposes.
Background information
Prior to 1 July 1998, students could access a loan under the former Austudy Scheme. The loan was previously called the Austudy Supplement. After 1 July 1998, the SFSS allowed eligible tertiary students to increase the amount of assistance they were receiving by taking out a loan under the scheme.
Under this scheme, eligible tertiary students could trade in all or part of their YA, Austudy or PES entitlement for twice the amount in the form of a loan. Full-time tertiary students ineligible for YA because of the level of their parent's income and/or family actual means could elect to access an SFSS loan of up to $2,000 a year as long as their parents' combined income and family actual means were below a certain level. The SFSS was paid fortnightly.