Primary and Secondary students

The Foundation’s bursaries are structured to supplement the financial assistance provided by the NSW and Commonwealth governments. These include the Assistance for Isolated Students, Youth Allowance, Distance Education Student Allowance, Living Away from Home Allowance, Access Scholarships and Agricultural High School Scholarships.

Details of these may be found on their websites (see Handy Links box)

There are three forms of assistance for school students:

Boarding grants – up to $700 p.a. to subsidise a student’s accommodation. These are paid directly to the hostel or school each term.

School-based grants – up to $250 p.a. to contribute to the cost of textbooks, school excursions, subject materials and other incidental expenses. These are paid directly to the school in Term 1.

Thru-to-Uni grants – up to $5,000 p.a. to outstanding Year 11/12 students from rural remote areas who lack the financial resources to achieve their goal of gaining entry to university.

Application criteria

The predominant criterion is need, as evidenced by:

• Geographic isolation from schools and services
• Family income and assets
• Other special and exceptional circumstances

Most recipients come from areas designated as Exceptional Circumstances (EC) by the Government in view of the current drought.

All applicants must declare to the Foundation the allowances they are eligible to receive from the Commonwealth and NSW Governments. Boarding grants will not be paid if allowances meet or exceed the cost of boarding. Consideration may be given to school-based grants for such students.

All grants are for students to attend schools and hostels in rural NSW.

All grants are made at the absolute discretion of the Board of Directors and may be adjusted or withdrawn if the circumstances of the recipients change.

Applications for bursaries must be made on the Bursary Application Form before the beginning of the school year. No applications are accepted mid-way through the year. The next application period is for Year 2009.

Applications for Thru-to-Uni grants for Year 2009 must be made on Thu-to-Uni Application Form by 15 December 2008.