Indigenous Education Scholarship

Scholarship details

Establishment

The Indigenous Education Scholarship aims to support Indigenous students with the costs of University study, particularly for those who are relocating from a remote or regional area and experiencing financial challenges.

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.

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

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, 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 enrolled (or enrolling) in any year of an enabling, undergraduate, or postgraduate degree program at the University of Newcastle.
• Demonstrate financial hardship by either 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.
• 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.
• 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.

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

A benefit of $3000 for full time study (or $1500 for part time) which will be paid in instalments after the semester 1 and 2 census dates.

Payments are typically received 2–3 weeks after the semester census date, or 2–3 weeks after you accept your offer if the census date has already passed.

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 being given to severe financial hardship and students who are relocating from remote and regional areas.

To check whether your usual home residence is in a regional or remote area (RA2 to RA5), please search your postcode at http://www.doctorconnect.gov.au/internet/otd/publishing.nsf/Content/locator

College

• College of Engineering Science and Environment
• College of Health Medicine and Wellbeing
• College of Human and Social Futures

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