University of Tasmania
PA-8: Affordability and Access

- A number of scholarships are available to University students with financial needs. Some examples are: Annual Appeal Scholarship, Bonnie Tilley Scholarship for Tasmanian Women, Campus Community Builders at UTAS Scholarship, Tasmanian Asylum Seeker Scholarship, University of Tasmania Access Scholarship, Vice-Chancellor’s University of Tasmania Access Scholarship.
- The Springboard to Higher Education Bursary Program is aimed at year 10 student who may be at risk of leaving the education system and not realising their full educational potential; will need financial assistance to continue onto further education; are likely to be successful in years 11 and 12 and university if given support and encouragement; are from a family with no tradition of participation in tertiary education, and merit the support, in the opinion of the Principal of their High School. The Program covers some of the expenses associated with study over years 11, 12 and first year of university.
- National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) is an Australian Government initiative that aims to address the shortage of affordable rental accommodation by offering a financial incentive to accommodation providers. As a result of obtaining NRAS funding, the University of Tasmania is able to offer its apartments (770 accross Tasmanian campuses) at 25% below market rates. NRAS Apartments are offered to students with a gross annual income below the threshold set by NRAS. (https://www.utas.edu.au/student-living/contact-us/faqs/nras-faqs)

The percentage of need met for students who were awarded any need-based aid was estimated as the average percentage of tuition fees covered by a scholarship for student who received an access scholarship (i.e., on the basis of financial need) during semester 1, 2020. Need has been defined as tuition fees only because of the difficulty of estimate living expenses for students, and the assumption that a significant percentage of students with low socio-economic status will live at their parental home with minimum living expenses.

The percentage of entering students that are low-income and the success rate for low-income students was taken from the 2018 Institutional Student Performance Data Report (https://docs-edu.govcms.gov.au/documents/2018-section-16-equity-performance-data) developed by the Commonwealth Department of Edication Skills and Employment (2019), using 'First Adress Low SES by SA1" for the Univerity of Tasmania.
- First Adress measures are based on a student's permanent home address at the commencement of study
- Low SES (socio-economic status): The 2016 ABS Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index of Education and Occupation is used to identify postcodes nationally as low (bottom 25% of the population), medium (middle 50%) or high (top 25%) socioeconomic status (SES). An estimate of the number of low SES students is made by counting the number of domestic students whose reported postcode of permanent home location is a low SES postcode
- SA1: statistical area level 1 (lowest level) are geographical areas built from whole Mesh Blocks.

The percentage of entering students is taken from the acess rates for domestic students data. Access rate is defined as "Commencing students in Equity Group / All Commencing domestic onshore students"
The success rate for low-income students is taken from the sucess rates for domestic students data. Success rate is defined as EFTSL passed / EFTSL certified (passed,failed,withdrawn). Success Rate measures academic performance by comparing the effective full-time student load (EFTSL) of units passed to the EFTSL of units attempted.