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No new financial supplement loans are available from 1 January 2004.
For existing loans, a person's loan repayment arrangements will continue unchanged. Loan recipients do not have to repay their loan until their income is above average weekly earnings. Remaining loans will be collected via the taxation system.
The following SFSS guideline references remain for historical purposes.
If financial supplement payments have not commenced and reassessment means that the student is no longer eligible for the SFSS, because the student's general rate has ceased, they can no longer apply for the financial supplement.
Financial supplement payments are also cancelled or suspended if:
If general rate is restored, the financial supplement is also restored.
A student who is already receiving the financial supplement may at any time provide a written request to the CBA to cease further instalments. The CBA then advises Centrelink that the payments will stop and the date from which the change was requested. Payments must cease within 4 weeks of the date of the written request, and the balance of the general rate, if any, is restored for the remainder of the eligibility period.
Any financial supplement instalments made outside that 4-week period are the responsibility of the CBA and may be recovered from the student by the bank. Any payment traded in for those instalments will be refunded to the student. Any other traded in payment already paid out CANNOT be reimbursed to the student.
The supplement amount the student has received for the year must still be repaid under the normal conditions.
If an overpayment of the supplement occurs because a student fails to notify a change of circumstances within the correct timeframe or financial supplement has been paid due to false or misleading information, the Commonwealth may buy back the amount of wrongly paid supplement from the CBA before the end of the contract period.
The amount of wrongly paid supplement bought back is raised as a debt against the person. The debt also includes an interest subsidy, i.e., the interest paid by the Commonwealth to the CBA for the amount of wrongly paid supplement.
If an overpayment of the supplement occurs because a student dies, the Commonwealth may buy back the amount of any outstanding debt owed by the student to the CBA. The debt will only be bought back where the death certificate or other acceptable form of proof of death is sighted. Once the debt is with the Commonwealth it is discharged and not passed to the deceased person's estate or next of kin.
Exception: The debt is not discharged if it has already been passed to the ATO and a Tax Assessment Notice has been issued, which includes an amount for the financial supplement.
Acceptable forms of proof of death are listed in 2.2.6 Verifying a Death.
Act reference: SSAct Chapter 2B-Student financial supplement scheme
Policy reference: SS Guide 3.8.4.10 Eligibility & General Rules for SFSS, 3.8.4.50 Continuation or Variation of the Financial Supplement, 2.2.6 Verifying a Death
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Last reviewed: 20 March 2012
