RMIT Welcome and the Sam and Nina Narodowski Asylum Seeker Scholarships

The RMIT Welcome Scholarship in conjunction with the Sam and Nina Narodowski Asylum Seeker Scholarship has been established in recognition of the financial hardship that is faced by individuals from asylum seeker backgrounds.

Eligible people seeking asylum looking to study full-time in a RMIT vocational or undergraduate degree program are encouraged to apply.

The scholarships consist of full program tuition fees and Student Services and Amenities Fees (SSAF) paid per semester and/or a living allowance for the duration of the program.

Note:  Existing RMIT Welcome Scholarship holders - if you are changing your program for 2026, you will need to re-apply for the 2026 RMIT Welcome Scholarship to be considered for the living allowance and the payment of both the tuition fees and SSAF for your new program (please ensure you apply for your new program by 5 December 2025).

There are a limited number of tuition fee waiver scholarships available. The number of scholarships available is dependent on the program you will be studying in 2026 and the final number of scholarship places available may be subject to change:

^ The Sam and Nina Narodowski Asylum Seeker Scholarship

~ See Eligibility section for exclusions

Notes:

• There may be more eligible applicants than scholarship places available, therefore not all eligible students may receive a scholarship offer. If you have a received a packaged program offer, please note that your scholarship duration will only apply to your first program, and not for the entire length of all the programs in that package.
• The scholarship’s study/living allowance is paid fortnightly.
• Any material fees required for your program or fines are not included in this scholarship.
• The number of scholarships awarded may be less than advertised.

To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:

• hold either a:
  • Temporary Protection Visa (V785) or
  • Safe Haven Enterprise Visa (SHEV) or
  • Humanitarian Stay Visa (449) or
  • Temporary Humanitarian Concern Visa (786) or
  • Current bridging visa (that is in effect) that is linked to a humanitarian, protection or refugee visa application. 
• be a commencing or continuing student enrolled or intending to enrol full-time (in an eligible program**) in semester 1 2026 at RMIT University Melbourne campus (Melbourne CBD, Brunswick, Bundoora only), in a:
  • certificate IV, diploma, advanced diploma, associate degree or a bachelor's degree~
• for commencing students have a program offer by the 23 December 2025 and have accepted that program offer at RMIT University for semester 1 2026 by 6 January 2026* in an eligible program**
• for continuing students be re-enrolled full-time in your existing program for semester 1 2026 by 22 December 2025
• be able to demonstrate financial hardship
• reside in Australia

*If you apply direct to RMIT or through VTAC, applicants must have accepted their RMIT program offer by this date.

**See table in value and duration section for eligible programs (minus excluded programs listed below ~).

Selection

• Information supplied in your application will be assessed and ranked. 
• Results in previous programs may also be used for existing RMIT students. 
• Some programs have quotas for how many scholarships can be awarded.
• There are limited scholarships, not all applicants will be able to be awarded a scholarship.

~Exclusions
Scholarships are not available for applicants applying for the following programs;

• 1-year bachelor honours programs
• Aviation programs which include flight/pilot training e.g., Bachelor of Aviation (Pilot Training), Associate Degree in Aviation (Professional Pilots), Diploma of Flying (Pilot Cadetship).
• Advanced Diploma of Engineering – Aeronautical, Mechanical or Civil Engineering Design
• Advanced Diploma of Professional Screenwriting
• Diploma of Business
• Diploma of Fashion Styling

Complete the online application by the close date. Partial applications will not be assessed.

Supporting documentation

Depending on your circumstances, you will need to provide different types of evidence and material to support your scholarship application. Applications without supporting documents will not be considered.

You will need to provide the following:

1. A copy of your Visa Grant Notice or Visa Entitlement Verification Online (VEVO) Notice:

• your VEVO Notice must be valid within a month of your scholarship application submission date
• your current visa must include study rights, and if your study program includes a work placement, your current visa must include work rights too
• bridging visa applicants must also provide official documentation confirming their substantive visa application

2. Evidence of financial hardship:

• if you are in receipt of Centrelink payments you must provide a Centrelink statement showing your Special Benefit (SB) or Status Resolution Support Services Payment (SRSS) dated within the last three months, with your full name visible, or;
• provide your own financial documents confirming your financial status or financial documents from those who support you financially. The documentation accepted is: the 2024-2025 ATO Notice of Assessment or 3 most recent payslips for yourself and all the people who support you financially.

3. Letter of recommendation; a letter of recommendation is a statement of support written by someone who knows you or is aware of your circumstances. RMIT will accept one of the following types of recommendations:

• one letter from a community organisation with specialist services that support people seeking asylum or refugees who can confirm your membership or involvement with that organisation OR
• one letter from a teacher (current or past) or someone you know well who can highlight your academic and personal strengths and can include information about the type of social and/or emotional support that you have through family, friends or from your community as you look to commence further study.

RMIT assesses applicants for this scholarship based primarily on financial need; however, as part of its ranking will consider:

• evidence of a disability, long-term medical or neurodiverse condition which may have impacted your ability to study
• evidence of extenuating circumstances (e.g., carer duties) from applicants unable to study full-time, but will study part-time

Please visit Supporting Your Application for more information.

Application questions

It is expected that the online application will take approximately thirty minutes to complete. The main application questions are listed below to allow you time to prepare your answers in advance prior to starting the online application.

• What are your plans after completing your program? What career path do you intend to pursue in the future?

Find out more about applying for scholarships.

Applications are now open.

Applications close 11:59PM Wednesday 10 December 2025. No late applications will be accepted.

View the Coursework Scholarships Office’s terms and conditions (PDF, 698KB).

• Scholarship cannot be deferred or placed on hold in its first semester
• Cannot, in most cases, be transferred to any other program you want to study (i.e., this scholarship is only applicable to the program that is in your RMIT Welcome Scholarship offer email)
• The continuation of the scholarship each semester is subject to meeting satisfactory academic performance
• Holders of the RMIT Welcome Scholarship must inform RMIT University immediately when their visa changes
• If government policies or your residency changes, and you become eligible for government programs that assist students with deferring fees (e.g., FEE-HELP, HECS-HELP, SA-HELP), then the appropriate tuition/SSAF paid portion of this scholarship will cease; but you may continue to receive the stipend payment
• Applications for a scholarship for part-time study may be approved in limited circumstances, such as where current medical conditions/disabilities do not allow full-time study. Working or not being able to enrol full-time due to failed courses are not approved circumstances for studying part-time. Any recipients approved for their scholarship to continue whilst part-time enrolled will be paid at a half rate and it will be considered taxable as per Australian Tax Office regulations
• Recipients of the scholarship understand that in addition to the Coursework Scholarships Office communicating with them about the scholarship, they may also receive communications from RMIT’s Equity and Inclusion teams, such as requests for feedback and information on their educational study and student experience.

For information about how to apply for a program as an asylum seeker, please visit Study opportunities for People Seeking Asylum.

Find out how to contact the Coursework Scholarships Office or contact the Equity and Diversity Unit.