A Queensland parent has recently discovered a unique government subsidy for driving your children to school.
The resourceful parent found that their three kilometre journey to school was worth a payout of $433.20 per year – half of the family’s annual car registration!
The School Transport Assistance Scheme is a government program aimed at taking the load off public transport for school children and encourages parents to drop off and pick up full-time students.
Applying is simple – the form takes as little as 10 minutes to complete, and the subsidy is provided once per year as a cash payment. A pre-filled renewal form is then dispatched annually for you to tick off quickly and easily.
To qualify, applicants must:
Be dropping off a full-time Australian student aged 19 years or younger
Travelling directly to school using the same mode of transport as least twice per week
Live at least 3.2 km away from their nearest primary school, or 4.8 km away from their nearest secondary school (private school students)
Students attending a private school need not only be as far away as listed above but commute further than the nearest state school.
The scheme only applies to trips made directly between home and school, and does not include activities such as commuting to after-school sports. Separated parents can each claim the subsidy for the same child but must stipulate which days each parent is responsible for transportation as long as they make it clear what day they are taking the child.
There are also schemes available for rural kids, in which parents can obtain an allowance for dropping children to a bus stop at least one kilometre from home.
If you don’t drive your kids to school, you may be entitled to receive financial assistance in covering bus or train travel.
Every state in Australia offers a similar scheme, and crafty parents can earn back hundreds of dollars for the simple task of taking the kids to school.
How much can you earn under the scheme?
The amount of money you can earn dropping your little ones off to school can be far more than you think, depending on the distance driven and the number of days the child attends school.
For information on each state’s variation of this scheme, visit the below links.
Here are the various schemes:
New South Wales – School Drive Subsidy
Victoria – Financial support for student transport (conveyance allowance)
Tasmania – Student Travel Conveyance Allowance
Western Australia – Student Travel Subsidy
South Australia – Student Traveling Allowance
Northern Territory – Isolated Students Conveyance Subsidy
ACT – Conveyance Allowance
Unlike some other ‘hidden money you didn’t know you had’ tricks we have all seen on the internet and in our email inboxes, this one actually exists and is genuine. A good win for parents everywhere!