More students to get cash handout

The Greens have secured major amendments to the federal government's $42 billion economic stimulus package to benefit higher education students as the Rudd government finally secured passage of its controversial stimulus measures.

On Thursday last week the Rudd government's stimulus package was defeated in the Senate after independent Senator Nick Xenophon voted with the opposition. This tied the vote in the Senate, meaning the bill didn't pass.

The bill was set to be debated in the Senate again on Friday, when it was finally passed.
Under the original stimulus package, announced earlier this month, university and vocational students currently in receipt of income support measures including youth allowance or Austudy, were eligible for a training and learning bonus of $950.

However students would have to have been enrolled by February 3 to access the payment and postgraduate students not eligible for such income support arrangements would have missed out on the payments.

Following negotiations between the government and the minor parties, the Greens secured amendments to extend the bonus to all students who were enrolled before March 31 and to postgraduate students who received the Australian postgraduate award (APA).

"There were glaring omissions of the government's original package on both of these issues," Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.

She said under the agreement the government would pay the bonus in two stages - one for students enrolled before February 3 and the second for students enrolled by March 31.
Senator Hanson-Young added that, under the deal, postgraduates on the APA would now receive the bonus payment.

According to an analysis by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, using data from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 111,462 postgraduate students would have missed out on the payments under the original criteria.

CAPA president Nigel Palmer said the inclusion of postgraduate students under the modified package was "significant and greatly appreciated".
He said he had received correspondence from many postgraduates who were upset at having been overlooked by the federal government under the original arrangements.

KEY POINTS
* The original $950 payment applied to students enrolled by February 3.
* The cut-off date has now been extended until March 31.