Scholarships and financial assistance

Government allowances
Scholarships

Government allowances

There are several allowances designed to help different groups of struggling full-time students:

Youth Allowance: for full-time students or Australian Apprentices aged 16 to 24
Austudy: for full-time students and apprentices aged 25 years or over
Abstudy: for Indigenous students and apprentices.

The eligibility criteria and payment scale for these allowances are complicated. Visit the Centrelink website for more information.

Scholarships

At last count over 17,000 scholarships were available to Australian undergraduate students. These are funded by the Commonwealth Government, education providers and private organisations. Many of these are in our Scholarship search — be sure to check it out!

Federal Government scholarships

Probably the largest source of scholarships for commencing students is from the Commonwealth Scholarships fund, which is a government program designed to make university accessible to students from low socio-economic backgrounds, particularly Indigenous students and those from regional and remote areas.

Student start-up scholarships

This scholarship was introduced in 2010 to replace the Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarships (CECS). The Start-up Scholarship is available to all students receiving income support through Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy. In 2012 the scholarship is worth $1025 for each six months of eligible study you undertake. This figure is indexed each year. Visit the Centrelink website for more information.

Relocation scholarships

Relocation Scholarships replaced the Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships (CAS) in 2010. The new Relocation Scholarship will be paid to eligible dependent Youth Allowance and ABSTUDY (living allowance) customers who need to live away from home to undertake full-time higher education. This scholarship provides students with a lump-sum payment of $4000 when they first move away from home to commence study, $2000 for their second and third year away from home, and another $1000 in each year of study after that. Visit the Centrelink website for more information.

Scholarships from education providers and private organisations

Many other scholarships are available. Some are awarded for academic merit, but others are awarded on an equity basis, taking into account such things as:

• financial disadvantage
• disability
• secondary schooling in rural and remote areas
• mature age
• Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

Remember that there are a large number of scholarships that may not be available to you in your first year but which may provide funds in your later years, or help you fund opportunities such as overseas travel and internships, or further studies in honours.

For more information

After you check out The Good Universities Guide's Scholarships Search, you can also talk to your institution’s scholarship office, or contact student administration to find out who handles scholarships.

Back to top