People experiencing financial disadvantage

To be eligible under this category, you must be either:

in receipt of a current Centrelink payment and/or benefit (eg receive youth allowance or a low income health care card), OR
experiencing exceptional financial disadvantage, but are not in receipt of any Centrelink payments or benefits.

A Medicare card is not a Centrelink benefit.

Supporting documentation required

1. Financial disadvantage - receiving Centrelink benefits

You can authorise Monash to electronically obtain details of your Centrelink benefits (Centrelink Confirmation eServices ) by providing your Customer Reference Number (CRN) in the application form. Your CRN must match your family name and date of birth recorded with Centrelink to produce a valid outcome.

If you provide a valid CRN, you are not required to supply additional financial documentation or statements.

Your Centrelink benefits must be valid at the time Monash verifies your benefits with Centrelink. This is when scholarship applications close.

Manual confirmation of Centrelink benefits

If you do not provide your CRN in your application you must obtain a statement of benefit (including the annual income figure) from your local Centrelink office and submit a certified copy of this statement. You must also provide a certified copy of your Health Care Card or Pension Card. This documentation must be dated between August and November 2011.

Any documentation that is not in your name (i.e. the applicant) must list the relationship of the person to you.

2. Financial disadvantage - not receiving Centrelink benefits

If you are not eligible for any Centrelink benefits you will be asked to describe the financial hardship you have experienced and how this has affected your education. You must explain why you are not currently receiving Centrelink benefits, how long the circumstances have lasted, and whether you expect these circumstances to continue in the future.

You must provide the following:

a certified copy of your Australian Tax Office-Notice of Financial Assessment for the 2010/11 financial year. If you do not have this document then provide three consecutive pay slips (or certified copies) dated between August and November 2011.
If you depend financially upon other people (i.e. your parents or a partner) you must provide the following FOR EACH contributing member of your household to support your claim:

o a certified copy of their Australian Tax Office-Notice of Financial Assessment for the 2010/11 financial year. If this document is not available then provide 3 consecutive pay slips (or certified copies) dated between August and November 2011, and

o a statement specifying their yearly or weekly contributions to you. In the statement they must also provide details of any other dependent children, including their ages and whether or not they are tertiary students living at home.

Any documentation that is not in your name (i.e. the applicant) must list the relationship of the person to you.