Changes in Student Allowances in 2008

Allowances recipients by allowance type

The number of parental income-based allowances for students under the age of 25 years with no dependants (a targeted group) increased by 8 percent in 2006 and by a further 12 percent in 2007.

Figure 2: Proportion of allowances recipients by allowance type

In 2008, the number of targeted parental income-based allowances increased by 10 percent to 37,400.  The proportion of parental income-based allowances increased by 2.7 percentage points and reached 57 percent.  Compensating percentage point decreases occurred for students with dependent partners (down 0.8), single students aged 25 years and over (down 0.7), and Independent Circumstances Grant recipients⁶ (down 0.2).  The decreases in the proportions of other allowances categories were smaller.

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 28 percent in 2007.  In 2008, the proportion of abated allowances decreased to 26 percent. Consequently 74 percent of students received a full parental income-based allowance.

In 2008, the average annual allowance ranged from $2,500 for a student with an earning spouse to $10,800 for a student with a dependent partner.

Footnotes

6. The Independent Circumstances Grant is paid to single students under the age of 25 years with no dependents who are eligible for allowances but who, for special reasons, cannot be supported by their parents.
   
7. 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 a dependent partner.