Like many other students Josh Garlepp is struggling financial without promised centrelink payments. Credit:Laura Cocks "There are now fewer than 29,000 claims on hand, which is below the level at the same time last year." But it's too little too late for many, with stories of students having to sell cars, work through the night and drop out of courses Mature age student Josh Garlepp is studying post graduate broadcasting at ECU, with his study load requiring him at university a minimum of four full days a week. He has been waiting for Centrelink to process his application since February 1, and worries about what he will do when his savings run out.

"I have had a whole lot of bills come through and I am down to my last $400," he said. "I live out of home and my course is so full on that it's very hard to secure any work. My spending is one shop per week at Spud Shed and rent. I can't afford to pay for anything else. "The only person I could turn to is my dad, but he is retired and it would be a burden on his wellbeing to look after me again." The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), the body representing employees of Centrelink, said the delays were shocking.

CPSU Deputy National President Lisa Newman was sceptical the backlog could be cleared in the Minister's timeframe. "We're extremely dubious about the Minister's declaration that this backlog will be fixed in the next fortnight," she said. "It's cold comfort to those claimants who've been forced to drop out of courses or have otherwise been hurt by this situation, and we are also concerned these extra resources are simply being poached from another section of the department." UWA post graduate medicine student Will Scutt has seen first hand the burden of financial pressure on his classmates. "I know people in my cohort who aren't as fortunate financially and have had to find more affordable accommodation and another job. This affects their ability to do coursework and some have had to drop out," he said.

Will moved from Hobart to study in Perth, he needs government support to continue studying away from home. He applied for Centrelink on January 27 and doesn't expect to receive a payment until June. "I worked two jobs last year to save up enough money to move and afford as much rent as I could. I wanted to focus on what is obviously a bloody demanding course," he said. "If I hadn't done this, I would either have had to drop out of uni or take out a loan by now to be able to afford my rent." Will's story came to light after Tasmanian Labor MP Julie Collins hosted a Facebook forum this week to survey the experiences of university students waiting for Austudy and Youth Allowance payments.

His was one of more than 200 responses in the first few days of her online forum. Ms Collins said the stories she had heard through the page were terrible, some involving students losing accommodation due to rent debts and ending up in crisis care. "I've been surprised at how large the response has been, these are real people being affected by a government decision," she said. "The delays have been blamed on a peak period tied to the start of the school year, but no peak period should last four months" "These students have absolutely been let down by the government. They've been told they need to learn and earn, but they're not getting the support to do so."

To make matters worse, students desperately trying to find out what the situation is have struggled to get answers out of with Centrelink, with documents lost, calls going unreturned and in branch visits ending with being told to go online to fix the problem. This is an experience echoed by UWA Bachelor of Commerce student Karla Gibbons, who sat on hold for the Centrelink Complaints number for nearly four hours. "It's borderline impossible to communicate with Centrelink," she said. "I have never received a response to an email, my lowest wait time on a phone call has been 45 minutes a few years ago, and my wait times on phone calls this year have been three plus hours, including a few calls that cut themselves off without getting to an operator." Karla also said criticisms that university students should just get a job are unfair.

"On top of my Centrelink payments, I work an extra 15-20 hours a week just to live comfortably. This gets pretty stressful with a full time study load," she said. Students in crisis are being told to immediately contact the Department of Human Services. "We are prioritising claims from people who are facing financial hardship and I encourage anyone in this situation to contact the department immediately for assistance," Mr Tudge said. Following inquiries from WAtoday Josh Garlepp received his first payment from Centrelink on Thursday morning. The payment was made after his case was flagged with the Department of Human Services.