FAQs about Equity Scholarships

Check your application carefully before submitting. After you’ve submitted your application, log back in, select the ‘Upload documents’ tab and check whether you need to provide supporting documents.

Provide your supporting documents as soon as possible after submitting your application, but no later than 10 working days prior to a scholarship offer round (to be considered in that round).

Both. It’s vital that you enter details of your current enrolment and your application for admission in your Equity Scholarship application. You’ll only be considered for a scholarship offer by institutions at which you’re currently enrolled and/or from which you receive an offer of admission. If you don’t enter all your application and enrolment details, you may miss out on a scholarship offer. After you have submitted your Equity Scholarship application you should log back in to update any changes to your enrolment status.

Your Equity Scholarship application gathers all the information needed to allow institutions to determine which of their scholarships you’re eligible for. When you apply, you don’t have to nominate which Equity Scholarship you’re applying for as you’ll be considered for all scholarships for which you’re eligible.

Institutions will send you a scholarship offer via email.

If you are not offered a scholarship, your application is still live in our system and will be considered for future offers throughout the year.

Do not submit another application in the same admissions year.

If your application is unsuccessful, UAC will email you in March 2025. On the same day we will also add a notification to your UAC Equity Scholarship application under the ‘Your outcome’ tab.

To be reconsidered in the future, create a new Equity Scholarship application when the next admissions period opens. If you need to provide new documentation to support your application, instructions will be provided in the document package for each circumstance you claim.

Note that some institutions make Equity Scholarship offers to applicants without notifying UAC. If we send you an email saying you have not been awarded an Equity Scholarship, but an institution has contacted you directly to offer you a scholarship, disregard the email from UAC.

No. Your application remains active and will be considered again in each offer round in the current admissions period.

The postcode of your permanent residence will be used to assess whether you lived in a regional or remote area of Australia. The Australian Standard Geographic Classification Remoteness Areas map can be used as a guide for your postcode. All categories other than ‘RA1 – Major Cities of Australia’ are considered to be regional or remote.

You are defined as a carer if, without being paid, you care for another person who needs ongoing support because of a long-term medical condition, a mental illness, a disability, frailty or the need for palliative care.

• A carer may or may not be a family member and may or may not live with the person they care for.
• A carer may be in receipt of a Centrelink Carer Allowance or Carer Payment.
• Volunteers under the auspices of a voluntary organisation are not included.

You are defined as a sole parent if you are single and have at least one child under 18 who is wholly or primarily in your care and who is living in Australia.

Income support payments are financial assistance administered by the Australian Government. These payments are made based on an assessment of the income and sometimes assets of the applicant, their partner, carer or supporter. For information about Centrelink means-tested income support payments, visit the Services Australia website. Family Tax Benefit Part A and B are NOT means-tested payments.

Examples of means-tested income support include:

• Youth Allowance
• ABSTUDY
• Austudy
• JobSeeker Allowance
• Disability Support Pension
• Parenting Payment (Single)
• Carer Payment.

Your CRN is printed on all correspondence sent to you by Centrelink, including Centrelink's concession card. Your CRN is not the same as your Centrelink Customer Access Number (CAN). Contact Centrelink to obtain your CRN if you’re unsure.

Yes. If you expect to receive a Centrelink means-tested income support payment in the future, select the appropriate circumstance, enter your CRN and indicate when you expect to receive your first payment.

Once payments commence, email equity@uac.edu.au. Provide your ES application number and full name and let us know the date of your first payment and the payment type.

It’s necessary to provide the documents requested:

• to verify that you’re eligible
• to assist in ranking your application in relation to other applications.

Documents must be uploaded to your online Equity Scholarship application.

Emailed, posted or delivered documents are not accepted.

In order for your ES application to be assessed in time for a particular offer round, you should apply and upload your documentation as early as possible, and no later than 10 working days before a scholarship offer round to ensure assessment is complete.

But if you miss the 10-day deadline, just upload your documentation as soon as you’re able. Your Equity Scholarship application remains valid for the entire admissions period and will be updated as further documentation is provided.

UAC will make every effort to assess all supporting documentation submitted before institutions make their scholarship offers, but cannot guarantee the assessment of documents submitted outside the required time frame.

Equity Scholarships consider how the circumstances experienced by an applicant will likely impact their tertiary studies (ie future impact).

The Educational Access Scheme considers how the circumstances experienced by an applicant impacted their Year 11 and/or 12 (or equivalent) studies (ie past impact).

Generally, this means that UAC requires different educational impact statements and, where required, medical impact statements. Where conditions are long-term or lifelong (such as ADHD/ autism and spectrum disorders) there may be an opportunity to use the same documents. However, it is in the best interests of the applicant to provide the correct documents for the correct scheme to ensure the most accurate assessment.

We highly recommend that a school staff member completes the educational impact statement, as they are best placed to determine the impact of the circumstances on the student. However, we allow for any responsible person who can, with authority, speak on the educational impact of the individual’s circumstances to complete the statement.

If you’re unable to have your school complete the statement, you must attach an explanation as to why your school can’t complete it and the relationship between you and the responsible person. A responsible person is a doctor, lawyer, accountant, social worker, counsellor, religious or community leader who is familiar with your circumstances and who can provide information regarding your circumstances and their effect on your ability to study. The person must:

• not be a family member or a friend
• confirm their relationship to you
• explain if or how the educational challenges you’ve experienced have affected your educational performance.

Where there is incorrect or insufficient information provided for assessment, you will be contacted by email.

We are unable to give you an update on your Equity Scholarship application during the admissions period. We are also unable to preview documents or evidence prior to it being uploaded to your application.

We guarantee we will assess all the documents you upload.

All documents that are required to be uploaded to support a claim for financial challenges must show a positive amount paid to the person named on the form.

This means that documents where names and/or payments amounts have been redacted cannot be used for assessment.