Indigenous Commonwealth Scholarships

These scholarships are provided by the Australian Government and available to students of Australian Indigenous descent. The Indigenous Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarship (ICES) is awarded to assist with education, teaching and training costs and the Indigenous Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship (ICAS) is awarded to assist with relocation and/or accommodation costs.

What are the benefits?

The Indigenous Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarship (ICECS) scholarship provides an allowance of either:

• $3,000 per year for four years for recent school leavers
• $7,000 per year for four years for non-school leavers

The Indigenous Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarship (ICAS) provides an allowance of either:

• $2,000 per year for four years for students who will relocate to Melbourne from within Victoria
• $4,000 per year for four years for student who will relocate to Melbourne from outside Victoria

The scholarships may be held concurrently with other scholarships.

To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:

• be of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander decent, identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, and be accepted as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander by the community in which they live, or formerly lived.
• have applied for a University of Melbourne undergraduate degree via the VTAC Special Entry Access Scheme (SEAS)
• meet the entry requirements for the University of Melbourne course nominated in your VTAC application.

Selection criteria

Where the number of eligible students exceeds the number of ICECS and ICAS available, preference is given to students from remote or regional areas and student who are financially disadvantaged.