Supporting documentation

There are five categories used to assess financial circumstances. You may meet the financial hardship criteria if your situation falls under at least one of the following categories.

Note: 

• If you are eligible to claim an Australian Government means-tested income support benefit but choose not to, you are not eligible to claim financial hardship. 
• If your income and/or your family’s income is above the Australian Government income eligibility threshold, you are not be eligible under the financial hardship criteria.

If you receive income support payments from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs, you will need to provide a copy of an income statement dated within one month of your application date, or a copy of your payment details downloaded and dated in the week you are submitting your application. 

The income statement should include:

• your full name
• the benefit you are receiving and the amount

The payment details should include:

• your full name and address
• the benefit you are receiving and amount
• the status of payments (i.e. current)

The following information should be redacted from the income statement and/or payment details:

• your Customer Reference Number (CRN)

Eligible benefits include:

• Youth Allowance
• JobSeeker Payment
• Austudy
• ABSTUDY
• Disability Support Pension
• Carer Payment
• Parenting payment

Instructions on how to view, print and save documents using a Centrelink online account are available here.

Please note that Family Tax Benefits A and B, JobKeeper and Carer Allowance are not considered eligible within this category. If you receive one of these income supports, you will also need to include your Notice of Assessment for the previous financial year or copies of your last three payslips from all current employers.

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 211KB) evidence.

If you have an Australian Government means tested^* low-income health care card, you will need to provide a copy of the front of the card. 

Eligible cards are:

• Centrelink Health Care Card

The card should include:

• your full name
• the card's expiry date (must be current)
• the code for the type of benefit you receive (i.e., AUS, ABS, DSP, JSP, YA - for Health Care Cards only)

The following information should be redacted from the card:

• your Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• the name(s) of anyone else on the card

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 211KB) evidence.

^*Ex-Carer Allowance Health Care Cards (EH/EHC) and Foster Child Health Care Cards (FO) are ineligible as they are not means/income tested.

If you are living at home, supported by your parent(s)/guardian(s), and they receive a low-income benefit from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs, you will need to provide a copy of their valid income statement, payment details, or their Australian Government means tested^* low-income health care card.

The income statement should be dated within one month of your application date, and should include:

• their full name and address
• the benefit they are receiving and amount

The following information should be redacted from the income statement:

• their Customer Reference Number (CRN)

Please note that Family Tax Benefits A and B, JobKeeper and Carer Allowance are not considered eligible within the Centrelink income support category. If your parent(s)/guardian(s) receives one of these income supports, you will also need to include their Notice of Assessment for the previous financial year or copies of their last three payslips from all current employers.

Centrelink low-income health care cards must be current and have a valid expiration date, and should include:

• parent(s)/guardian(s) full name
• the card's expiry date (must be current)
• the code for the type of benefit they receive (e.g. DSP, CAR, PP, PPS etc.)

The following information should be redacted from the card:

• their Customer Reference Number (CRN)

*Ex-Carer Allowance Health Care Cards (EH/EHC) and Foster Child Health Care Cards (FO) are ineligible as they are not means/income tested.

Payment details must be current and downloaded and dated in the week you are submitting your application, and should include:

• their full name and address
• the benefit they are receiving and amount
• the status of payments (i.e. current)

Instructions on how to view, print and save documents using a Centrelink online account are available here.

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 211KB) evidence.

If your household (including any others that financially support you that you may not live with) has a combined annual income of $90,000 or less and you do not receive any eligible Centrelink or Department of Veterans' Affairs income support benefits, you can still provide evidence that you are experiencing financial hardship. Please visit the Department of Human Services income test if you have dependent children, as this may increase the allowed combined income.

You must:

• Explain why you are not receiving income support benefits;
• Provide Notice of Assessments (NoA) from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the relevant financial year for ALL the people earning an income in your household/supporting you (i.e. if applying for scholarships up until June 2026, the NoA would be for the 2024-25 financial period, if applying for scholarships from July 2026, the NoA would be for the 2025-26 financial period); OR
• Provide the last three payslips for ALL of the people earning an income in your household/supporting you, from all current employers or sources of income

Notice of assessments and payslips should include:

• full name
• income details

The following information should be redacted:

• Tax File Number (TFN)

These documents should be collated into a single document either in a Word document or as a single PDF.

Important notes:

• All amounts must be in Australian dollars. If you have recently moved to Australia and/or are supported financially by someone overseas and payslips are in another currency, you must provide a statutory declaration confirming the income range in AUD, along with a copy of relevant payslip(s).
• Income ready statements and PAYG (pay as you go) summaries will not be accepted as evidence.

In exceptional circumstances (sale of a family business; death of a parent; etc.), parts of this evidence may not be accessible to you during the application period. If this is the case, we may accept a statutory declaration. Please contact the Coursework Scholarships Office prior to submission for advice.

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence of your financial hardship, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 258KB) and ineligible (PDF, 183KB) evidence.

If you have an annual income of $51,000 or less and you do not receive any eligible Centrelink or Department of Veterans' Affairs income support benefits, you can still provide evidence that you are experiencing financial hardship. Please visit the Department of Human Services income test if you have dependent children, as this may increase the allowed income.

You must:

• Explain why you are not receiving income support benefits;
• Provide your Notice of Assessment (NoA) from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) for the previous financial year (i.e. if applying for scholarships up until June 2026, the NoA would be for the 2024-25 financial period, if applying for scholarships from July 2026, the NoA would be for the 2025-26 financial period etc.); OR
• Provide your last three payslips from all current employers.

Notice of assessments and payslips should include:

• your full name
• your income details

The following information should be redacted:

• your Tax File Number (TFN)

These documents should be collated into a single document either in a Word document or as a single PDF.

Important notes:

• All amounts must be in Australian dollars. If you have recently moved to Australia and payslips are in another currency, you must provide a statutory declaration confirming the income range in AUD, along with a copy of relevant payslip(s).
• Income ready statements and PAYG (pay as you go) summaries will not be accepted as evidence.

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence of your financial hardship, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 258KB) and ineligible (PDF, 182KB) evidence.

You are moving or have moved from interstate or rural/regional Victoria to commence study at RMIT.

I will be moving from a rural/regional/interstate location to study at RMIT

• Your move needs to be within four months of commencing study, or any time after
• If studying at the City, Brunswick, Bundoora, or Point Cook campuses, your new address needs to be within metropolitan Melbourne
• If studying at the Bendigo Campus, your new address needs to be within the general Bendigo area

I have moved within the past 4 years from a rural/regional/interstate location to study at RMIT

• Your move needs to be within four months of commencing study, or any time after
• If studying at the City, Brunswick, Bundoora, or Point Cook campuses, your address needs to be within metropolitan Melbourne
• If studying at the Bendigo Campus, your address needs to be within the general Bendigo area
• Proof of your current address (i.e., rental agreement, utility bill)

The following documents can be used as evidence:

• Rental agreement
• Utility bill

Proof of address should include:

• your full name
• your address

The following information should be redacted:

• your driver's licence number
• any customer account numbers
• personal details of landlord
• the name(s) of other people on the tenancy agreement

You can check your eligibility using the Regional Adjustment Calculator.

If you have a disability, long-term medical condition, or identify as neurodivergent and it impacts your ability to study, you can make a claim of medical hardship in your scholarship application. The following documents can be used as evidence (they must include your full name):

• Preferred document for scholarship application assessment: A detailed letter from your health care provider, specifying the nature of your condition and the impact it is likely to have on your studies, dated within the last three months^*. If you are unsure of what information to ask your health care provider to include, you can request they complete our Statement of Support.
• A copy of your disability income support statement from Centrelink, dated within one month of your application date
  
• A copy of your current Disability Centrelink Health Care Card (DSP); Veterans White/Gold card
• A copy of your current RMIT Equitable Learning Plan

^*We recognise some conditions are ongoing and/or lifelong, so depending on your circumstances, documentation older than three months may be acceptable. For example, a student with an autism diagnosis may have a report from several years ago that remains valid; this report would be accepted as evidence of their eligibility under this category. Conditions that are ongoing and/or lifelong, for which documentation older than three months may be accepted, are outlined here.

The following information should be redacted:

• your Customer Reference Number (CRN)
• your Medicare number

The following will not be accepted as evidence (does not provide sufficient context to assess impact on education):

• prescriptions
• hospital admission forms, hospital discharge/summary
• letters from non-health care providers

You are, or have previously been, the holder of one of the following Australian refugee and humanitarian visas:

• Global Special Humanitarian (subclass 202)
• Protection visa (subclass 866)
• Refugee visas (subclass 200, 201, 203 and 204)

The following documents can be used as evidence: 

• A copy of your Australian Permanent Humanitarian Visa
• A copy of your Visa Grant Notice 
• A copy of your Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) check
• A copy of your Document for travel to Australia
• Refugee documentation from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection/Department of Home Affairs

Refugee evidence must include your full name and visa subclass. An ImmiCard cannot be accepted as evidence for this category.

The following information should be redacted:

• application ID/file number
• visa grant number
• ImmiCard number
• passport number

To ensure you are providing appropriate evidence as a current or former refugee, please view our examples of eligible (PDF, 258KB) and ineligible (PDF, 182KB) evidence.

If you are experiencing significant personal/family/social difficulties that are impacting your ability to study and you wish for it to be considered as part of your scholarship application, the following documents can be used as evidence:

• A supporting statement written by someone in a position of authority who is qualified to comment on your circumstances (for example, a teacher, lawyer, accountant, health care provider, community or religious leader, or police/law enforcement member). This statement should not be written by you, your partner, a family member, a friend, or someone you live with.

To be considered, the supporting statement must:

• be detailed and specific about the difficult circumstances and the impact on your education
• be dated
• include contact details for the person who has written the statement
• include the signature of the author 

It is preferred that the supporting statement is written on official letterhead and uploaded as a PDF or you can request they complete our Statement of Support.

While we prefer supporting documents to be no more than three months old, we understand that some life events have long-lasting impacts. For example, a student who has experienced a crime may submit a police report from several years ago, and this evidence will be accepted.

Please ensure you submit your Indigenous eligibility documentation to our Ngarara Willim Centre by the scholarship application close time and date. See Indigenous Eligibility for more information.

You live in a low socioeconomic area, as classified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in the 2021 Census data.

An early school leaver is a person whose highest level of secondary education completed prior to commencing their current RMIT program is Year 11 or below (i.e. they did not complete Year 12).

A mature-age student is a person who:

• has completed Year 12
• is 21 years of age or older on 1 January in the year of application,
• commencing study at RMIT, and
• has not completed any further formal education (for example, a TAFE qualification or a unversity degree).

A TAFE (vocational education) pathway student is a person who has completed a TAFE qualification (such as a certificate, diploma, or advanced diploma) and has used this qualification to gain admission to an RMIT university program, or is in the process of doing so.

If you must study part-time (rather than choosing to because of work commitments, credit exemptions or preference), you can provide current evidence (dated within the last three months) to support reasons why you are unable to study full-time, for example, a copy of a detailed letter from your health care provider or evidence of Centrelink Carer or dependent payments.

If you are unsure of what information to ask your health care provider to include, you can request they complete our Statement of Support and endorse part-time study.

If you are unsure about what circumstances might be considered within this category, please contact the Coursework Scholarships Office.

A letter(s) of recommendation is sometimes required as part of the scholarship application process. It should:

• Be written on official letterhead and must include the full name, position, organisation, contact details and a signature from the person providing the letter (PDF preferred)
• Be dated, and not more than 3 months old
• Align with the criteria (e.g. academic excellence, community service, leadership) and provide specific examples

It is important to check the criteria of the scholarship you're applying for, as there may be a specific person (e.g. academic, community leader) who is required to provide your letter of recommendation.

The person writing your letter of recommendation needs to:

• Have known you for at least 12 months
• Not be related to you by birth, marriage, de facto relationship, partner or be a friend; and
• Not reside with you

When requesting a letter of recommendation, consider the following: 

• Choose someone who knows you well enough to respond to the letter of recommendation request. Not everyone will feel that they know enough about you to write a letter of recommendation, so it’s wise to have a backup person in mind in case your first-choice declines. 
  • A personal referee may be a community worker, employer, counsellor, church leader, doctor, etc.
  • An academic reference should be provided by an RMIT academic, teacher or tutor if you have already commenced studying at RMIT. If you have not started at RMIT, the reference should come from your most recent education provider, for example, your Year 12 coordinator from your secondary school
• Give your referee plenty of notice so they have enough time to write your letter of recommendation. A hurried letter is unlikely to be as thoughtful or enthusiastic as a considered one.
• To assist the person writing your letter of recommendation, you may want to provide them with Writing a Scholarship Letter of a Recommendation for a student for tips and guidance
• Write a brief statement to give to your referee, summarising:
  • Why you are applying for the scholarship and how it would benefit you
  • What have been your academic achievements in your program thus far
  • Any extra curriculum activities that you participate in, for example, peer mentoring, student-staff consultative committee member 
  • Any information about your personal circumstances and/or any difficulties you have experienced to support your scholarship application; and
  • How receiving the scholarship would assist you

When submitting a CV (curriculum vitae)/resume for scholarship applications please ensure that is no more than two pages in length.

Visit the RMIT’s Careers team online resources for help building your own resume (CV): https://www.rmit.edu.au/students/careers-opportunities/jobs-careers-employability/online-career-support   

When submitting artwork/photography as a part of an application, it must be your own creation and not AI generated or enhanced.