Changes in Student Allowances in 2007

Allowances recipients by allowance type

The number of parental income-based allowances for students under the age of 25 with no dependents (a targeted group) increased by 15 percent in 2005 and by a further 8 percent in 2006.

Figure 3:  Proportion of allowances recipients by allowance type

In 2007, the number of targeted parental income based allowances increased by 12 percent to 33,900.  The proportion of parental income-based allowances increased by 3.3 percentage points and reached 54 percent.  Compensating decreases of 2.0, 0.6 and 0.3 percentage points occurred for single students aged 25 and over, students with dependent partners and Independent Circumstances Grant recipients² respectively.  Changes in the proportions of other allowances categories were small. 

Table 2:  Allowances recipients by allowance type¹, 2007

The proportion of recipients whose allowances were abated on parental income test grounds from the total number of parental-income based allowances decreased from 36 percent in 1999 to 34 percent in 2002 to 32 percent in 2004 and to 30 percent in 2006. In 2007, the proportion of abated allowances decreased to 28 percent meaning that 72 percent of students received a full parental income-based allowance.

In 2007, the average annual allowance ranged from $2,800 for students with earning spouses to $11,100 for students with dependent partners, with the overall annual average being around $6,200.
 

Footnotes

1. The independent circumstances grant is paid to single students under the age of 25 with no dependents, who are eligible for allowances but who, for special reasons, cannot be supported by their parents.
   
2. The following categories of allowances recipients might or might not have child(ren): student with earning spouse; couple, one eligible; couple, both eligible; student with dependent partner.