Commonwealth Scholarships for Indigenous students | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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Commonwealth Scholarships for Indigenous students

Commonwealth Scholarships

In 2017 the Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship Program changed to the Indigenous Student Success Program (ISSP) due to updates to funding and legislation.

If you've previously received a Commonwealth Scholarship in 2016 or earlier from UniSC, you will continue to receive a Preserved ISSP scholarship under transitional ISSP arrangements subject to ongoing eligibility requirements.

If your Commonwealth Scholarship has ended because you've received the maximum amount of payments or you're no longer eligible, you will not be able to reapply for any other Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarship. We encourage you to apply for other scholarships or bursaries.

Ongoing Commonwealth Scholarships for continuing students offered prior to 2018
  1. Indigenous Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarships (ICECS) provide students with A$2,755 * a year for up to four years to assist with general study costs.
  2. Indigenous Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships (ICAS) provide students who have moved from regional or remote areas to undertake their university studies with A$5,512 * a year for up to four years to assist with accommodation and study costs.

* These are the 2020 Scholarship values. The Scholarship values are indexed annually.

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Eligibility criteria

Basic eligibility criteria for Commonwealth Scholarships

You must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:

Conditions Requirements
Citizenship and residency You must be:
  • an Australian citizen,
  • an Australian Indigenous person
Enrolment You must be a Commonwealth supported student enrolled at UniSC, in one of the following:
  • Associate Degree,
  • Undergraduate program, or a
  • Graduate Diploma in an area of National Priority (Graduate Diploma in Education)
Financial need You must demonstrate financial need, either:
  • through receiving a means-tested Commonwealth income support payment through the Department of Human Services (such as Youth Allowance, Austudy, ABSTUDY, Disability Support Pension, Parenting Payment etc), or
  • by providing comprehensive information demonstrating financial hardship and/or disadvantage
Study load You must be enrolled as a full-time student, i.e. enrolled in 3 or 4 UniSC courses per semester, unless there are exceptional circumstances that prevent you from studying full-time. Circumstances that may be taken into consideration include disability, significant carer responsibilities or medical conditions.
Previous qualifications You must not hold an equivalent qualification or a higher one than the program in which you are enrolled unless such award is a prerequisite to the current program and there is no alternate pathway into that program. e.g. Graduate Entry Nursing

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Additional Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship eligibility requirements

In addition to meeting the basic eligibility criteria listed above, to be considered for the Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship, applicants must also meet all of the following criteria:

Conditions Requirements
Regional or remote residence Within the 4 years immediately preceding the commencement of higher education study you must have either:
  • have lived in a regional or remote area of Australia for at least 3 years, or
  • completed the final 2 years of schooling in a high school or college in a regional or remote area, or
  • have moved away from a regional or remote area to complete the whole or the majority of schooling at a high school or college in a major city, or
  • have lived in a regional or remote area of Australia for a total of at least 2 years, and have relocated from the regional or remote area of Australia to undertake vocational education and training (e.g. TAFE) for a maximum of 2 years duration immediately preceding the commencement of their undergraduate course
Relocation to undertake university study It must have been necessary for you to move from a regional or remote area in order to undertake your program at UniSC.
Incurring additional accommodation costs You must be incurring additional accommodation costs as a result of relocating to undertake your program at UniSC.

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More information

For more information on eligibility, or assistance, please contact Student Central.