I would say probably not.  I know that I can’t.  That’s why I put my dream of going to university on hold so I could work for a year, make some money, prove my independence and then head off to university with a little bit of life experience under my belt. But if you, like me, planned to go to university but know your parents can’t afford to support you, I hope that you’re pretty angry right now.  In fact, I hope you’re as outraged as I am that the government has made a decision that could potentially stop thousands of young Australians from achieving their dreams.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I suggest you read on.

Proving my independence and qualifying for the youth allowance was my plan. I planned it all too.  I planned the finding a job part, which was harder than I thought it would be with me being a high school student with minimum skills and an economy in recession.  I planned the amount of money I needed to make part, which actually worked out ok, after the finding a job part was complete.  I even planned to spend time overseas and gain some knowledge of the world we are a part of by volunteering and learning more skills.  Now all I had to do was work, and soon I would be on my way to university, moving out of home, and beginning my life.

But who is that over there in the corner shaking their head?  Oh, that’s right! It’s the government!  See, they don’t want Australian students to be doing useless things like proving their independence and gaining life skills before the go to university.  Or, at least it seems that way.  You see, in the last budget, a few ‘changes’ came to light that are meant to ‘benefit’ students who are on the path to university.

What are the changes?

Well, if they are implemented, you can say goodbye to your gap year, because you’ll have to take two years.  Also, forget about proving your independence by making a certain amount of money in 18 months (about $19,500 in case you were wondering) because now you have to work 30 HOURS a week for a MINIMUM of 18 MONTHS!!  That’s right folks, two gap years, by which time anything you learnt in high school is well and truly forgotten, and the scores you worked so hard to achieve are more or less outdated.

The date that these changes are coming into action, if they are passed, is January 2010.  In order to avoid the new laws, and receive the youth allowance, you must be enrolled full time at university in January.  That’s no help to me of course, because universities don’t start until March.  That means that all of the students who finished in the class of 2008 will miss out on this allowance that they have worked SO hard for by a mere two months.  Where is the benefit for us in that?

If you have gotten this far and your still as angry as I am then get in contact with us and we will set you up to speak you mind.  Don’t just sit down and let this all pass you by.  No excuse is good enough.  Even if you’re still in school, remember that this is your future, and now is the time to fight for it.