Information for Current Commonwealth & SWANS Scholarship Recipients

Centrelink and your Scholarship

If you are awarded a scholarship, you should declare it to Centrelink. Your offer of scholarship letter or email can be used to clarify the details of your award.

Whether it is counted as income or not will depend on which scholarship you receive.

Commonwealth Scholarships

Any Commonwealth Scholarship payments that you receive (CECS, CAS, NPS, NAS, IES, IAS) will not be included as income by Centrelink in means-tested benefits such as Youth Allowance, Austudy and ABSTUDY.

UWA SWANS Scholarships

As these awards are funded by the University, UWA SWANS Cash Payment Scholarships will be counted as income by Centrelink in means-tested benefits.

If you are awarded a UWA SWANS Partial Fee Waiver Scholarship, we have been advised that Centrelink will not count these scholarships as income.

Confirming Ongoing Eligibility

Just prior to the commencement of each semester, the Scholarships Office will contact you by email to request that you complete an ongoing eligibility acknowledgement form with regards to your Commonwealth or UWA SWANS Scholarship.

This process is undertaken entirely online.

The ongoing eligibility acknowledgement form will also allow you to indicate if you wish to defer your scholarship, or if you are no longer eligible to receive your scholarship.

Completion of the process is essential for payment of your scholarship.

Payment of your Scholarship

Payments of Commonwealth and UWA SWANS Scholarships are typically made to students in late-April (for Semester 1) or late-September (for Semester 2).

Ongoing scholarship recipients must first complete an ongoing eligibility acknowledgement form before payment is made.

On the ongoing eligibility acknowledgement form you may indicate whether you would like your payment made by electronic funds transfer (EFT) or by cheque. The form may also be used to update bank account details that were previously provided for your scholarship payment.

Checking your Scholarship conditions

Copies of current scholarship conditions for Commonwealth Scholarships and UWA SWANS Scholarships are available online.

If you have any questions related to your scholarship conditions, please contact the Scholarships Office on 6488 8196 or 6488 3736.

See also: Tax and Your Scholarship