Working age, students and new parents · guide
Youth Allowance for students: earnings and the income bank
Students get a higher free area than job seekers and a bank that saves the unused part. How to use both around semesters and holidays.
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A full-time student or Australian Apprentice on Youth Allowance can earn $539 a fortnight in 2026 without any reduction, more than three times the free area of a job seeker. Above it, the payment falls by 50 cents per dollar up to $646 and by 60 cents per dollar after that. On top, each fortnight in which a student earns less than $539 adds the difference to an income bank, which can hold up to $13,500. When earnings later exceed the free area, for instance during a summer job, credits from the bank are used first, so the payment is not reduced until the bank is empty. The bank is not reset each year, survives the holidays for continuing students, and is cancelled when full-time study ends. Austudy recipients have the same test and the same bank.
Student Youth Allowance and the income bank
Youth Allowance per fortnight
$805.85
| Rent Assistance included (sharer) | $121.65 |
| Income bank credit this fortnight | $239 |
| Income bank ceiling | $13,500 |
Credits build when you earn under the free area; a later peak uses them before the payment falls.
The student income test in numbers
| Earnings per fortnight | Youth Allowance (single, away from home) | Earnings plus payment |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $684.20 | $684 |
| $300 | $684.20 | $984 |
| $539 | $684.20 | $1,223 |
| $646 | $630.70 | $1,277 |
| $800 | $538.30 | $1,338 |
| $1,000 | $418.30 | $1,418 |
| $1,200 | $298.30 | $1,498 |
Up to $539, every dollar earned is kept in full. The band from $539 to $646 costs $54 in total, and each $100 above $646 costs $60. The free area is indexed on 1 January, like the rates (Social Security Guide 4.2.8.50).
How the income bank works
Think of the free area as an allowance you can save. In every fortnight in which you are paid Youth Allowance as a full-time student and earn less than $539, the unused part goes into your income bank. A student who earns nothing during semester adds $539 a fortnight and fills the bank to its $13,500 limit in 26 fortnights. When earnings exceed the free area, the excess is first taken from the bank, and only when the bank is empty does the income test start reducing the payment.
Take a student with a full bank who works over summer, earning $1,400 a fortnight. Each fortnight, $861 of that is above the free area and is absorbed by the bank, so the payment stays at the full rate for about 15 fortnights. Without the bank, the same earnings would cut the payment to about $178.30 each fortnight.
When the higher free area applies
The student free area and the income bank apply in every fortnight in which Youth Allowance or Austudy is payable to you as a full-time student, from the date your course starts. A new student who was previously counted for the parents' Family Tax Benefit as a secondary student gets access from the first fortnight after they stop being a senior secondary school child. Access normally ends with the fortnight in which the course ends. Some 22 to 24 year olds who move to full-time study without transferring from JobSeeker keep the job seeker free area instead.
Planning a year of work around the bank
The bank rewards a pattern that suits many students: little paid work during teaching weeks, more during breaks. A student earning $250 a fortnight through semester adds $289 each fortnight, about $3,757 over a 26-week semester, and can then work more during the break without losing payment until those credits are used. A student who works steadily above the free area all year has nothing in the bank and is assessed fortnight by fortnight under the normal tapers.
Earnings still have to be reported every fortnight, even when the bank covers them. The bank is applied automatically by Services Australia on the income you report; you do not need to ask for it, and it appears on your payment details in your Centrelink online account through myGov, fortnight by fortnight.
Students, parents and partners
The personal income test is only one part. A dependent student's rate can also be reduced by the parental income test and, in some cases, the parental assets and maintenance tests, while an independent student who is partnered faces a partner income test. Assets above the free area stop the payment for an independent student. These tests sit on top of the student income test described here; the Youth Allowance calculator covers the personal and partner tests, and the student living away from home example puts the payment next to Rent Assistance.