About your scholarship

What you need to know once you've accepted your scholarship offer.

This information applies to undergraduate and graduate coursework students only. Graduate research students should visit the Graduate Research Hub.

The University of Melbourne offers a range of scholarships for undergraduate and graduate coursework students. Scholarships may be applied for and awarded before you start your course, or while you are enrolled.

Scholarships for coursework students usually provide a one-off payment, regular allowance payments for one or more years, or a tuition fee remission.

Scholarship benefits can only be activated once you have:

  • Accepted your scholarship offer
  • Commenced your course
  • Updated your bank details
  • Met the conditions of your scholarship (as specified in your scholarship offer).

Fore more information, see your scholarship conditions:

Payments

  • Scholarships that provide one payment or half-yearly allowance are usually paid in April or September.
  • Those with quarterly instalments are usually paid in April, June, September and November.
  • Other scholarships, such as prizes or awards, can be made throughout the year.

Payments are made via the University’s Payroll on set pay days, and will appear as a University of Melbourne salary on your bank statement.

The University does not provide payslips for scholarship payments.

  • Why haven't I received my scholarship payment yet?

    Payments can only be made on the set pay days and it takes between seven and sixteen working days to process your scholarship payment. It may take longer if your scholarship or prize has been awarded by your faculty or graduate school.  

    Make sure you have accepted your scholarship offer (if applicable), correctly supplied your bank and address details (see below), and fulfilled all other applicable conditions of your scholarship.

    Also keep in mind that your pay day might be determined by the type of scholarship you have. Some one-off, half-yearly and quarterly payments are paid on or after the half-yearly allowance pay days in April and September, so please check your offer and the pay days closely.

Fee remission

Scholarships that provide a part or full fee remission, or an exemption for the HECS Student Contribution, will be activated after you have accepted your course and scholarship offer and are due to commence your course.

If you do receive a fee invoice, please submit an online enquiry to the Scholarships team or contact Stop 1. In most cases this happens because your scholarship hasn’t yet been activated or your enrolment has changed.

Please note: Tuition fee remission scholarships do not cover the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). If the SSAF or any other non-tuition fee appears on your Statement of Liability, you are required to pay it.

Providing your bank and address details

To receive scholarship payments, you will need to provide us with the details of your Australian bank account and address via my.unimelb. You can update or check your details after you have accepted your scholarship offer, or if you are currently located outside Australia and do not have an Australian bank account, you can wait until you arrive in Melbourne and activated your bank account.

Scholarship payments can only be made to a bank account (BSB code and account number) with an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Most registered institutions are banks that require you to confirm your identity in person at one of their branches in Australia before you can transact on your account. Others provide online money transfer services (‘purchased payment facilities’), for example Wise (TransferWise), that allow you to create a currency account with a BSB code and account number online without needing to be present in Australia. Research your options before deciding on setting up a bank account.

To check and update your bank details:

  1. Log on to my.unimelb
  2. Click on Student admin at the top of the page and go to Financial Support
  3. Select View and update my bank account details to access Payment Details
  4. Click Update
  5. Click Enter and save your bank details

If Step 3 sends you to Personal Details,  click on Awards and Achievements at the top of the page, then on Payment on the left side bar to access Payment Details.

Please note:

  • You will need the name and six-digit BSB number of your bank. If you do not know your BSB, contact your bank.
  • The BSB and account number should only contain numbers. Do not include dashes, letters or spaces - this will cause an error which stops us processing your payment.

For information on how to check or update your address details, see how do I update my contact details?
Make sure the name of your suburb is spelt correctly and your postcode and suburb match. If you are not sure, check the Australia Post Find a Postcode website.

Payments may be delayed if we do not have your bank details or if the details you provided are incorrect.

Most scholarships provided by the University of Melbourne are equity or merit-based scholarships. Payments from these scholarships are exempt from the Centrelink income test as long as they are less than the Centrelink payment threshold. Any scholarship amounts over the threshold may affect your Centrelink payment rate.

Commonwealth scholarships, or scholarships that provide a tuition fee remission or payments to a third party (e.g. an accommodation provider), are not considered income for Centrelink purposes.

If you have applied for or are receiving Centrelink benefits, you are obliged to notify Centrelink of any scholarships you have received. We will not do this on your behalf.

  • If you are asked for a scholarship reference number, you can fill the field with your student ID number.
  • If you are asked for evidence of your scholarship(s), we can provide you with a letter including the details of your current (active) scholarships. You can request one by submitting an online enquiry.

For further information, please refer to the Department of Human Services website.

Income tax

Scholarship payments are normally exempt from income tax, as long as:

  1. You are enrolled as a full-time student
  2. The scholarship is provided for educational purposes, and not as part of an employment agreement.

If you are enrolled part-time, we will not withhold income tax from your scholarship payments. However, you should declare your payments as assessable income in your tax return or seek independent tax advice to ensure that your individual circumstances are covered.

For more information, see:

Please note: You will not receive a MyGov income statement or any other statement for tax purposes if we are not withholding income tax from your scholarship payments.

Evidence of your scholarship

Your scholarships, bursaries or prizes will be included in your academic transcript and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS), as well as your Statement of Results.

If you require a more detailed statement of your scholarships or studentship as proof of income or eligibility (e.g. for a visa, loan, or course/scholarship application), you can purchase an Evidence of Scholarship Statement.

The Evidence of Scholarship Statement includes:

  • Your full name, date of birth and student ID number
  • The name, start and end date, and value of your scholarship(s).

Once you place an order, a digital copy will be sent to your student email address.

Need help with your scholarship?

Submit an online enquiry to Stop 1 and we'll get back to you within 10 business days.

Submit an enquiry