Eligibility
Those that are eligible to apply for the CSEF must meet the following 2 criteria.
Criterion 1 – General eligibility
The applicant must be one of the following on the first day of Term 1 (28 January 2025) or Term 2 (22 April 2025):
- a parent or carer who is the beneficiary of a financially means-tested card – please refer to the list of eligible cards below
- a student over 16 years who is considered a mature minor and holds a valid concession card (such as a Youth Allowance Health Care Card or Disability Support Pension Card). For guidance on assessing whether a student is a mature minor, refer to the department’s policy on Mature Minors and Decision Making
- a parent or carer whose child is 16 or over and the beneficiary of a financially means tested card but are not considered a mature minor.
Applications must be submitted to the school by 4 July 2025.
Where the parent or carer is seeking eligibility based on an eligible financially means-tested card, eligibility will be determined when the relevant concession card successfully validates with Centrelink on either the first day of Term 1 or Term 2.
For students over 16 years of age and where the eligible card is in the name of the student, the fund is only granted to that student, not their siblings.
Where a school or family is unsure if the concession card is eligible, they are encouraged to submit the application into the CSEF system for validation.
If validation keeps failing, a letter from Centrelink stating that the family had a valid means tested concession card on either the first day of Term 1 2025 or the first day of Term 2 2025 may be accepted. In this case, please email the letter to csef@education.vic.gov.au for review.
Eligible means tested cards
The full list of eligible concession and health care cards is available on the Services website.
For Veterans' Affairs, gold cards are the only means tested cards for this type. This card must be sighted, and a photocopy taken by the school to confirm the expiry date and eligibility.
Cards that are not financially means tested are not accepted.
Criterion 2 – Be of school age and attend a Victorian school
For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a registered Victorian school.
CSEF is not payable to a students attending pre-school, kindergarten, TAFE or who are home schooled.
Special consideration
A special consideration category exists for asylum seeker families and families on temporary protection or Safe Haven visas who are not permanent residents and do not have access to Centrelink or have a Health Care Card. Permanent residents or applicants with a Health Care Card are not eligible for special consideration.
Applicant’s VISA Grant notice details showing applicant’s current residential status are required to apply for special consideration
Applicants who have a Health Care Card issued by Centrelink should apply as a general application and not under special consideration
For students in temporary out of home care arrangements, including statutory kinship care or foster care, a letter of support from the institution facilitating the arrangement (for example Mackillop Family Services) or the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) is required as evidence and must be no more than 12 months old. Copies of court orders are permitted to support special consideration applications.
Permanent care arrangements such as permanent visas and foster care do not meet the criteria for special consideration.
Applications for special consideration can be made through the standard application form. Further information is available in the submitting an application chapter.
Schools are able to accept applications from newly arrived refugee, asylum seeker and out of home care students who enrol in Terms 3 and 4. For these applications supporting documentation is required to be attached to the application form and a scanned copy emailed to csef@education.vic.gov.au for processing before the end of Term 4.
Reviewed 03 February 2025