All information that I receive regarding Scholarships is filed in the Scholarships box in my office. Don't forget to apply for Scholarships as soon as you make an application for a course. Applications usually close at the end of September. It costs you the amount of a stamp to apply for a Scholarship. It is worth the effort. Some scholarships are worth up to $30,000 a year.
In 2004, the Australian Government introduced the ‘Commonwealth Learning Scholarships Programme' to assist rural and regional, low income and Indigenous students with costs associated with higher education. There are two scholarships – one for educational costs and one for accommodation costs. Both are merit based and non-repayable and will target students from low income backgrounds. The scholarships are exempt from the Social Security income tests. Higher education institutions are responsible for the allocation of these scholarships.
If applying for Scholarships you should follow the following steps:
- ring the university or provider and check which scholarships you are eligible to apply for (state that you are a country student, going into 1st Year and applying to study …..course).
- Obtain an application form. Firstly check in the Scholarships box in my office. If there is not an application form, you will need to phone the University/TAFE straight away and arrange for one to be sent to you or downloaded from the uni website.
- Start asking as many people as possible to be ready to write you a reference (many applications require a specific form/format, thus a generic reference is not always helpful).
- Fill out the application form in full.
- Keep a copy of your application.