Commonwealth Scholarships Program

The Commonwealth Scholarships Program provides general costs of study and support to the eligible students for their higher studies where they have to move from some rural or remote area to pursue their studies. As there are limited number of seats in this program, so students have to apply directly to the university from where they want to pursue their studies. This program helps aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students who are from low economic backgrounds to continue their studies.

History

This scholarship program changed in the year 2010 and from then on, it is assisting or you can say is available for the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students only. But the students who were awarded a Commonwealth Scholarships Program prior to January 1, 2010 gets continuous support and benefits from this program, but only for those who are eligible for this program.

Eligibility

The basic eligibility requirements for the program are that the applicant should be an Australian citizen or must be a holder of permanent humanitarian visa. Applicant should meet the low socio-economic status. Applicant must be enrolled in a full-time student program or course for the duration of the scholarship period.

Selection Process

All the eligible students will be ranked and selected as per their measured economic and personal hardships. Successful applicants will have to sign an acceptance form acknowledging the conditions of the offer and they have to provide their bank details also. On the other hand an unsuccessful applicant has the right to request a review of the decision within the 14 days of the date of their notification letter.

Categories

Commonwealth Scholarships Program are categorized into various scholarships like

• Indigenous commonwealth education costs scholarships (ICECS)
• Indigenous enabling commonwealth education costs scholarships
• Indigenous commonwealth accommodation scholarship
• Indigenous access scholarship etc.

Awards

The scholarship values are indexed annually which range from $2250 to $5000 as per the type of the scholarship program. For example the value of Commonwealth Scholarships Program in 2014 is

• $2492 for Indigenous Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarship,
• $4985 for Indigenous Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship and
• $4702 for Indigenous access scholarship program.

Award Conditions

There are some conditions that an applicant has to fulfill in order to be eligible for this program.

• Applicant should be a regional or remote area resident
• He / she should have lived in that area of Australia for at least 3 years
• Must have completed final 2 years of schooling in that remote area or have moved away from remote area for the purpose of pursuing and completing the studies.
• Applicant must be incurring the accommodation cost of relocating, to undertake their studies.