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Eligibility rules
You need to be an eligible student from a regional or remote area, moving away from home to study at a tertiary education provider.
To get this payment you must meet all of the following things:
- be an Australian resident meeting residence rules
- come from an inner regional, outer regional or remote area
- move to study at a tertiary education provider that’s at least 90 minutes away from your family home location by public transport
- have completed year 12 or equivalent
- studying a tertiary course at certificate IV or above
- be 22 or younger on the day you start your tertiary course
- have parents or guardians whose income is under the current combined parental income limit of $250,000 if you are a dependant.
If you finished school in 2024 and meet the eligibility rules, you can claim TAP at any time between 1 January and 31 December 2025.
If it’s more than 12 months since you finished school, you can’t claim right now. We’re updating our systems to take your claim. We expect this to be complete by mid to late June 2025.
You can read more about expanded eligibility for TAP on the Department of Education website.
Study rules
You must also meet all of the study rules.
To get the payment, you must be studying one of the following:
- university course
- Vocational Educational and Training (VET) course
- other higher education course.
You meet the rules for qualifying study if you do all of the following:
- study a certificate IV or above at an accredited Australian tertiary education provider
- study at least 75% of a full-time study load
- study a course with a minimum duration of one academic year.
You may still be eligible if you can’t study full time. This needs to be for a special reason and you’ll need to give us proof.
There are also rules you need to meet for the delivery of your study program. It must be one of the following:
- face-to-face
- a combination of face-to-face and online study
- at a Regional University Study Hub or Suburban University Study Hub.
If you apply for TAP you may also be eligible to apply for other student payments like Youth Allowance or ABSTUDY.
Payment and Service Finder will tell you what payments and services you may be eligible for.