The Tertiary Access Payment (TAP) is a one off payment of up to $5,000. It’s to help eligible students with the cost of moving to study. This is for study after you’ve finished year 12 or equivalent.

To get the payment you need to meet some rules. These include:

• moving from a regional or remote area for tertiary study
• starting tertiary study in the year after finishing year 12 or equivalent.

Regional areas are places that aren’t in or near a major city. You can check if your family home is in a regional or remote area using the Student Regional Area Search.

You can claim this payment in your first year of tertiary study only.

How much you can get

The Tertiary Access Payment is a payment of $3,000 or $5,000. How much you can get depends on where your family home is located.

Inner regional

If you’re eligible, you can get a one off lump sum of $3,000 in the first half of your study year.

We’ll pay you after you confirm your study details. You’ll need to meet all eligibility criteria at that time, including being enrolled in full time study.

Outer regional and remote

If you’re an outer regional or remote student, you may be able to get this payment in 2 instalments.

First instalment

If you’re eligible, you can get an instalment of $3,000 in the first half of your study year.

We’ll pay you after you confirm your study details. You’ll need to meet all eligibility criteria at that time, including being enrolled in full time study.

Second instalment

If you stay enrolled in full time study, you can get a second instalment of $2,000. We’ll pay you in either:

• September of the same year you started studying
• March in the following year, if you started studying in the second half of the year.

Eligibility criteria

You need to be an eligible student moving away from home to study at a tertiary education provider. This payment is for those who start studying at any point in the year immediately after completing year 12 or equivalent.

If you’re eligible, you can only claim the Tertiary Access Payment from 1 January to 31 December in your first year of tertiary study.

To get this payment you must also be all of the following:

• an Australian resident meeting residence rules
• from an inner regional, outer regional, remote or very remote area
• moving to study at a tertiary education provider that’s at least 90 minutes away from your family home by public transport
• have completed year 12 or equivalent
• studying a tertiary course at certificate IV or above in the year after year 12 with no gap year
• 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.

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 both 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 Centre (RUC), including as an online student. 

• Phone: 132 490
• Fax: 1300 786 102
• Email: regional@dese.gov.au