Giving up a salary is one of the biggest costs in deciding to continue into postgraduate study, so any financial support provided to students is very important.
If you are 24 years of age or younger and studying full-time, then you still qualify for Youth Allowance during your postgraduate degree. Payment rates are between $240 and $570 per fortnight, depending on your circumstances. If you are 25 years of age or older and taking a postgraduate degree full-time, you can apply for Austudy instead. Payment rates are between $440 and $570 per fortnight, depending on your circumstances.
Austudy, however, has some further eligibility requirements, and is only available for some postgraduate degrees. According to the Department of Social Services, masters by coursework degrees are eligible “...where the course is the minimum educational requirement, the fastest pathway or the only pathway to gain an entry-level qualification for a profession”.
The Department of Social Services conducts an assessment process each year and invites higher education providers to submit their professionally oriented coursework masters programs for assessment. Below is a list of all master's programs which are currently approved for Austudy (as of November 2019).