ESSUN Midyear Scholarship

Applications open
Amount

$2,000

Number available

15

Closing date

04 August 2025

Scholarship details

Establishment

University of Newcastle has a proud history of supporting motivated and talented students to both gain entry to university and to thrive in their field of study, regardless of their background and individual circumstances.

The Equity Scholarship Scheme University of Newcastle (ESSUN) provides assistance to students who are experiencing financial hardship and other personal circumstances impacting study, including:

  • Carer responsibilities
  • English language difficulty
  • Financial hardship
  • Long term medical condition/ disability or ongoing effects of abuse
  • Regional or remote disadvantage
  • Sole parent responsibilities
  • Additional attributes such as Indigenous Australian or having Refugee status.

Definitions of types of disadvantage and documents required to demonstrate these are available on the UAC ES web page .

The ESSUN Midyear Scholarship is offered in Semester 2 to support students commencing study in the midyear intake.

The ESSUN Midyear Scholarship is for one semester only. Applicants should also register interest/apply for the annual version of the scholarship for the following year.

For more information on this scholarship, please review the full Terms and Conditions.

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for this scholarship, you will need to:

  • Be studying in any enabling or undergraduate program with University of Newcastle. Preference may be given to students commencing in the midyear intake (Semester 2).
  • Be experiencing financial hardship. This may mean that you receive a centrelink means-tested income support payment, can demonstrate financial challenges, or are a dependent in Year 12 with a parent/guardian in receipt of Family Tax Benefit Part A.
  • You may be experiencing other challenges, including carer or sole parent responsibilities, long term medical condition/disability, ongoing effects of abuse, living in remote Australia, or attributes of First Nations Person, Refugee, or Out-of-Home Care.
  • Be an Australian citizen or Australian Permanent Resident (includes New Zealand Permanent Residents).
  • You must not hold a concurrent scholarship of equal or higher value with the University of Newcastle, however you may choose to repay this scholarship to accept a higher value scholarship in the same academic year.
  • You must not have previously completed an undergraduate degree award, except in certain scenarios such as partial completion of a combined degree, Honours, and the final year of the Joint Medical Program.

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.

  • A personal statement (approx. 1 A4 page) outlining your academic achievements, career aspirations in the relevant area of study, and how this scholarship would assist you. This statement will cover all scholarships you are submitting for.
  • You may be required to provide documents to support your educational challenges and personal circumstances. These will be identified when you apply based on your individual application responses.

Benefit

This scholarship provides a lump sum payment after census date of $2000 for full time study (30 units or more), or $1250 for part-time study (20 units or less).

This is for semester 2 only. All applicants should also apply for the full year ESSUN Scholarship for 2026 when listed.

Selection

Selection is based on the information provided in the University of Newcastle Scholarship application and the assessment conducted by UAC. During scholarship offer rounds, University of Newcastle will rank applications based on financial hardship and prioritize award of scholarships to students who experience severe and/or additional educational disadvantages and who are commencing their studies in semester 2. University of Newcastle may consider the number, duration and severity of disadvantages, previous scholarships received, and your academic progress when awarding scholarships.

Meeting the scholarship criteria does not guarantee an offer as the number of applicants often exceeds available scholarships. If you do not receive an offer, it does not mean that you are not considered as meeting requirements, only that there were students considered to have a greater need of support at that time. Please do not let this deter you from applying for other opportunities or reapplying in subsequent offer years.

College

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