Name: Alan Chu

Miss Yiman Li

Maths

Money and problem solving

 Introduction

This report is mainly about the investigation and occupation, the choice of career path,

financial requirements, return, whether the return is better or not. . .. To each of them the

individual standard, to predict the income of apprenticeship occupations and degree occupations

for eight or eight years. These pairs of apprenticeship career path and college university path of

the financial post-study decision which career path to take. Normally, senior secondary school

graduates face a lot of challenges and hardships in deciding to concern their career life (Aweil, et

al. 2020). Therefore, finding out the trends in such an assessment will be of great help to them.

Observations
 It was observed that most Australian students receive an average salary of $ 6,713 per

month (Talent.com, 2023). In addition, the students benefit from a youth allowance of $

1,116.34 per month (Services, Australia 2023). See appendix 1. These observations

affected the mathematical model because, these incomes will be used to calculate the

projections of financial positions for the two career paths.

 It was observed that the incomes and allowances for the university career path and

apprenticeship career path were monthly, hence, to find the projected incomes for a four -

year period and then an eight - year period, the total monthly incomes had to be

calculated by summing up all possible allowances and incomes and then subtracting total

expenses with considerations for the consumer price indexes. The total monthly incomes

then were used to find the predictions for 4 years followed by 8 years.

 It was observed that students who were doing part-time jobs and still getting

government allowances, the amount of payment they will receive would reduce in

accordance with the limits given. See appendix 3.

 It was also observed that the average salary for the apprentice was $ 54,400 per

year (Talent.com, 2023). This observation will help in finding out the financial position

of an apprentice career path in a period of 4 years followed by an eight-year projection.

 Assumptions

 This assumption was made to prevent skewing of the data for yearly incomes for both the

apprentice career path and the university career path.

 It was assumed that the total expenses for each was uniform throughout the four -

year period and the eight – year period. Their total incomes were also assumed to be

uniform for the entire projection period. These assumptions were made to eliminate
 possibilities of getting unrealistic values and incomes throughout the whole projection

period. It was assumed that there were no increments in payments for the apprenticeship

during the 8 years of projecting. This assumption was made in account of all pay

increases that are made during apprenticeship.

 It was assumed that both the apprentice and the student were either living a couple or

alone but had no children and it was a necessity to leave their parent’s home and have

their own accommodation. This assumption was important in finding out the allowances

that they were to receive.

It was also assumed that both the university students and apprentice employees were not

driving, hence, they were using public transport.

Methodology

• Collection of data. The data used in this investigation belongs to Southern Cross

University. The samples were accessed from an online website. Student incomes, allowances,

and total expenses were observed, and all the categorical data was organized in excel

spreadsheets to evaluate the yearly incomes.

• Modelling. Tables of analysis results were drawn, and this information was used to draw

graphs from which, the comparison between a university career path and an apprentice career

path was clearly outlined. Projections were made from the patterns and trends in the drawn

graphs. Developing a solution

Monthly salary for Australian University student = $ 6,713

Yearly salary for an apprentice in Australia = $ 54,400

Allowances for university students and apprentice employees depend on the table below:
A table of possible incomes within a fortnight.

Your situation. Maximum income.

Single, no children, younger than 18 and live $ 728.00

at your parent’s home.

Single, no children, 18 or older and live at $ 823.34

your parent’s home.

Single or in a couple, no children and need to $ 1,116.34

live away from your parent’s home.

Member of a couple with children. $ 1,200.50

Single with children $ 1,382.67

Single, the main career of dependent children $ 1,723.34

younger than 16, with an exemption for one

of these:

 Foster caring

 Home schooling

 Distance education

 Large family

Using the information in the above table and the assumptions made, we get to see that

both an apprentice career path and a university career path receives an allowance of $ 1,116.34 in

a period of two weeks. Therefore, total allowances for each in a month = $ 1,116.34 * 2 since, a

month has two fortnights. This gives a monthly allowance of $ 2,232.68 for each.

From these, we can now calculate the total yearly incomes as follows.
 Total income for students in a year = (salary + allowances.) * 12 months

= ($ 6,713 + $ 2,232.68) * 12

= $ 107,348.16

Total income for apprentice employee = salary + (monthly allowances * 12 months)

= $ 54,400 + ($ 2,232.68 * 12)

= $ 81,192.16

A table of monthly cost of living for Southern Cross University students.

Expenses per week. Private rental SCU village. Homestay.

Accommodation. $150-$300 _room $190-$220 $240-$325

$400-$800_house

Food $140-$280 $140-$280 Included.

Public transport. $30-$70 $30 Covered.

Electricity. $15- room Included. Included.

$40- house

Water. $5 Included. Included.

Mobile/internet. $30-$60 $30-$60 $30-$60

Total. $810-$1510 $390-$590 $270-$385

With an assumption that all students live in SCU Village.

Weekly expense is between $270 and $385, average = $327.5

Yearly expense = 327.5*12 =$3,930

Inflation =7.8%*107,348.16=$8,373.20

CPI=1.87%*107,348.16=$2,007.40

Tax rates for student salary of $107,348.16 as per the information in Appendix 4
 First bracket=0

2nd bracket=19cents*26800*0.0016=814.72

3rd bracket=$5,092+ (32.5*62,348.16*0.0016) =$8,334.10

Total income tax for student=0+814.72+8334.10=$9,148.82

Monthly expenses for apprentice include $954.85 living costs and $1,190 rent (World Remit,

retrieved,2023)

Yearly expenses will be ($954.85+$1,190) *12 =$25,738.20

Inflation=7.8%*81,192.16=$6,332.90

CPI=1.87%*81,192.16=$1,518.30

Tax rates for apprentice salary of $81,192.16 using the given resident tax rates (see appendix 4)

1st bracket=0

2nd bracket=19cents*26800*0.0016=$814.72

3rd bracket=$5,092+(32.5cents*36,192.16*0.0016) =$6,974

Total income tax for apprentice employee=0+814.72+6974=$7,788.72

Net income.

University student=gross income- (expenses + inflation +CPI +income tax)

=107,348.16- (3930 + 8373.20 + 2007.40 +9148.82)

= 107,348.16 – 23,459.42

= $83,888.74

Apprentice=gross income – (expenses +inflation +CPI+ income tax.)

= 81,192.16- (25,738.20+ 6332.90+ 1518.30+7788.72)

= 81,192.16- (41378.12)

= $39,814.04
A table of projected incomes for a four-year period and an eight-year period

Career path. Yearly net income. Projected income after Projected income after

4 years. 8 years.

University student. $83,888.74 83888.74*4 83888.74*8 years= $

years=$335,555.96 671,109.92

Apprentice $39,814.04 $39814.04*4 $39814.04*8 years =

employee. years=159,256.16 $318,512.32

A table of yearly budget summary

Details. Amount in $

University career path  Gross income  107,348.16

 Expenses  3,930

 Consumer Price Index  2,007.40

(CPI)

 Inflation  8,373.20

Apprentice career path.  Gross income  81,192.16

 Expenses  25,738.20

 Consumer Price Index  1,518.30

(CPI)  6,332.90
  Inflation

Evaluation and verification

An analysis of the investigation on comparison of projected financial positions between a

university career path and an apprentice career path has shown that, in a period of eight years,

the students who would have chosen a university career path will be having a higher income than

those who will go with an apprentice career path.

Strengths and limitations

Strength.

From the observation on the cost of living for university students, the information which

was provided was accurate since it came from Southern Cross University. Hence, making the

investigation successful because the information given was practical and based on the real life

situation that was happening at that moment.

Limitations.

The annual expenses incurred by university students cannot be consistent for a whole

period of eight years since, there will be changes in preferences and tastes which will make the

students either stop using a certain expense or start using another new expense. To add on,

apprentice employees’ pay can always increase with time, therefore, the assumption that

apprenticeship pay would remain constant throughout the eight years is not true.

Improving the investigation.

 For such future investigations to be more effective, there should be data provisions for

each of the eight years such that, net incomes, expenses, taxes, inflation, and Consumer Price

Index are different for each successive year.

Conclusion

In general, after conducting the investigation on the financial requirements of a university

career path compared to an apprenticeship, the findings proved that a university career path was

better off since its income was greater than that of an apprentice throughout the projected period

of eight years.

References.

WorldRemit, https://www.worldremit.com/en/blog/tips-and-guides/an-overview-of-the-cost-of-

living-in-australia/

Awoyelu, I. O., Oguntoyinbo, E. O., & Awoyelu, T. M. (2020). Fuzzy K-Nearest Neighbour

Model for choice of career path for upper basic school students. International Journal of

Education and Management Engineering (IJEME), 10(4), 18-32.

Services Australia, personal income test, https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/personal-income-

test-for-youth-allowance-for-job-seekers?context=43921, retrieved, March 2, 2023.

Talent.com, Apprentice average salary in Australia, 2023, https://au.talent.com/salary?

job=apprentice#:~:text=Find%20out%20what%20the%20average%20Apprentice
 %20salary%20is&text=The%20average%20apprentice%20salary%20in,up%20to

%20%2480%2C236%20per%20year, retrieved, March 2, 2023.

Talent.com, Apprentice average salary in Australia, 2023, https://au.talent.com/salary?

job=apprentice#:~:text=Find%20out%20what%20the%20average%20Apprentice

%20salary%20is&text=The%20average%20apprentice%20salary%20in,up%20to

%20%2480%2C236%20per%20year. Retrieved, March 2, 2023.

Trading Economics, Australian inflation rate-consumer price index,

https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/inflation-cpi, retrieved, March 2, 2023.

Appendices.