Indigenous Accommodation Scholarship

Applications closed
Amount

$5,500

Number available

3

Closing date

19 October 2025

Scholarship details

Establishment

These Commonwealth-funded scholarships aim to support Indigenous students who are relocating from a remote or regional area to study with University of Newcastle.

Applications are now open for students who commenced study in Semester 2 2025 and will reopen for new students in 2026 later in the year.

Established status is not a requirement for this scholarship, however we encourage all of our Indigenous students to engage with this process here to access the multiple other scholarships and supports we on offer while you study with us.

For more information on this scholarship, please review the full Terms and Conditions.

If you are experiencing severe housing stress, you may also apply for the Aboriginal Housing Office (AHO) Tertiary Accommodation Grants.

Applicable to financial disadvantage, regional and remote, Indigenous, part-time study permitted, enabling (Open Foundation, Yapug), undergraduate, postgraduate.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, you will need to:

  • Be currently enrolled or enrolling in any year of any Enabling, Undergraduate (Commonwealth Supported Place), or Postgraduate program with University of Newcastle.
  • Demonstrate financial hardship by either by being in receipt of a means-tested Commonwealth income support payment (such as Austudy, ABSTUDY, Youth Allowance etc), or on the basis of a comprehensive assessment.
  • Be of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent, AND identify as an Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, AND be accepted as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander by the community in which you live or have lived.
  • Be relocating from a remote, rural, or regional area to study with UON.
  • If accepting the scholarship offer, must not have received - or agrees to repay - a Student Start-up Loan, a Student Start-up Scholarship or a Relocation Scholarship or the Residential Costs option of ABSTUDY from Centrelink.
  • Must not have previously received the full entitlement of a Commonwealth Indigenous Scholarship awarded prior to 2017 or hold this scholarship concurrently at another institution.

Required Documentation

Required documents will be listed on the ‘Your Documents’ page of your application. The application portal accepts PDF only. A maximum of 3 PDF smaller than 5 MB can be added per document type upload field.

  • Documents required may vary depending on your application responses. Please refer to the Your Documents section of your application for information on what you will need to provide.

Benefit

The scholarship provides a total of $5500, paid as two instalments of $2750 after the semester one and semester two census dates.

A pro-rata payment of $1375 will apply to semesters in which enrolment is part-time (10 or 20 units).

Selection

Selection is based on the information provided in the scholarship application and supporting documentation. Scholarship offers are made to applicants who best meet the Scholarship criteria, with priority given to relocating students with severe financial hardship who are commencing in their first undergraduate degree.

Preference may also be given to students relocating from Outer Regional, Remote, and Very Remote areas.

To check whether your usual home residence is in a regional or remote area, please search your postcode here: www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/locator or the Student Regional Area Search on the centrelink website here: https://www.centrelink.gov.au/wps/portal/clk_common/RIS#stay

College

Contact Details

Scholarships
Student and Academic Services
University of Newcastle
University Drive
CALLAGHAN NSW 2308

Phone: +61 2 4921 5000
Email: scholarships@newcastle.edu.au