Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF)

Eligibility

There are 2 criteria that must be met.

Criterion 1 – General eligibility

The applicant must be one of the following on the first day of Term 1 (29 January 2024) or Term 2 (15 April 2024):

• a parent or carer who is the beneficiary of a financially means-tested card – please refer to the list of eligible cards below
• a temporary foster carer
• 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.

Applications must be submitted to the school by 28 June 2024.

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.

Eligible means tested cards

Below is a list of means tested cards that are accepted:

• ABSTUDY – Schooling Applicant (ABA)
• ABSTUDY – Secondary/Tertiary (ABY)
• Age Pension (AGE)
• Austudy Payment (AUS)
• Bereavement Allowance (BVA)
• Disability Support Pension (DSP)
• Health Care Card (HCC)
• Job Seeker (JSP)
• Newstart Allowance (NSA)
• Non-Agency Payment (NAP)
• Parenting Payment (PP)
• Partner Allowance (PTA)
• Sickness Allowance (SKA)
• Special Benefit (SPL)
• Widow Allowance (WDA)
• Widow B Pension (WID)
• Wife Pension Age (WFA)
• Wife Pension Disability (WFD)
• Veterans Card (Gold)
• Youth Allowance (YAL)

Veteran Affairs gold cards are the only means tested cards of 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. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Foster (FO) – Foster Parents must provide a copy of the temporary care order letter from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
• Child Disability (CD)
• Family allowance (FA)
• Ex-Carer Allowance (Child) Health Care Card
• Carers Card (CAR)

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 students attending pre-school, kindergarten, TAFE or who are home schooled.

Special consideration

A special consideration category exists for:

• families on a bridging visa, temporary protection visa, are in community detention or are asylum seeker families – a letter no older than 12 months from Australian Red Cross or similar welfare institution, visa grant notice or ImmiCard is required as evidence
• students in temporary out of home care arrangements, including statutory kinship care – a letter of support from the institution facilitating the arrangement (for example Mackillop Family Services) or the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing 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 permanent 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 and asylum seeker students who enrol in Terms 3 and 4. For these applications supportive 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.