13 Jan 2020

My friends, I hate to break it to you, but the summer holidays are nearly finished. For those heading back to uni or TAFE, that means a serious chunk of your time is soon going to be spent in class, travelling to class and studying for class.

Whatever you did with that time during summer – be it lazing around at the beach, travelling, or working a crappy job – it's now going to be replaced by study.

When uni hits, some of us have to give up our summer jobs in order to focus all our energy into our studies. Some of us don’t like working and studying at the same time. Some of us just don’t like working.

Whichever you are, it’s time for us all to get our Centrelink sorted.

Youth Allowance is a beautiful thing. Education is valued so highly in our country that you can actually get paid to study.

Work out whether you’re eligible

Centrelink sounds bloody incredible, but if you’re not eligible to receive it, it’s gonna be of no use at all to ya. To be eligible for Cenno, you’ve gotta be under 24 and studying full time at uni or TAFE (or temporarily unable to do either).

If you tick all the boxes above, things are looking good. Keep going!

Are you dependent or independent?

The next step in your quest for free money involves determining whether you’re dependent or independent.

If you’re deemed to be independent, you’re sweet to apply for Cenno right away. If you’re dependent, it’s not quite as simple and there will probs be a bit more paperwork to do.

If you’re under 22, unmarried, jobless and living comfortably at home, you’ll almost definitely be considered dependent. If this is the case, how much money you can receive from Centrelink is determined by how much your parents earn. You can learn more about the whole dependent/independent thingo here.

Get a Tax File Number

Ya can’t receive your Centrelink payments without one, so get one sorted now. A TFN is super easy to apply for online, and not hard to obtain if you’re an Aussie resident. Get onto it.

Get ya $#!t together

Applying for Cenno can be super tedious, mainly because of all the documentation you need to supply to prove this and that.

If you’re about to apply, get ready. Bring the supplies. Bring ya proof of identity, a copy of your lease or any proof of wherever you’re living, your proof of employment, your enrolment record, your bank statements. They may even need your parents’ bank statements.

Oh boy, this is getting serious!

The sooner you apply, the better

While the Centrelink application process can drag on, it’s definitely worth getting onto it ASAP. This is because if your application is approved, you’ll be paid from whenever you first lodged your application.

So if Cenno have a few questions about your application and it takes you a month or two to get approved for payments, you’ll be back paid all the way to when you first applied. Yep, you could receive two month’s pay all in one hit if it takes them that long to decide that you’re eligible for payments. It’s like having two Christmases!

If ya wanna know more about how Centrelink works and how to apply for it, you can check out their website for a bunch of answers.