EAS Categories

• Home Environment and Responsibilities (caring for a seriously ill family member)
• Financial Hardship (21 or younger dependent on parent)

Supporting Documents

• Home Environment coversheet including personal statement
• Support letter from doctor
• Financial Hardship coversheet
• Mother’s most recent Income Statement from Centrelink

Background

Lisa is the oldest of three siblings in a single parent family. As she was about to finish year eleven at a high school on Brisbane’s southside, her Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and was laid off from her casual job when she asked to reduce her hours. Already working part-time at Woollies to help support the family, Lisa took a second job as a swimming coach.

Across year twelve, Lisa’s grades declined. Worried about her Mum’s health and worn out from so much paid work outside school hours, she struggled to concentrate in class and had little time for homework. When she received her final results, she knew they were well below what she was capable of.

Application

After a gap year working full-time and helping her Mum recover, Lisa applied for a Bachelor of Education at a university in Brisbane. Her selection rank, based on her disappointing high school grades, was just below the threshold for entry to her preferred course and institution. But Lisa also applied for QTAC’s Educational Access Scheme.

In the Home Environment and Responsibilities category, she supplied a completed coversheet with a personal statement describing how caring for her Mum had impacted her year twelve studies, and a support letter from the family doctor confirming her Mum’s diagnosis.

In the Financial Hardship category, she was assessed based on her Mum’s income – even though she was working – because she was still under 22 and living at home. She provided a completed coversheet and a recent Income Statement from Centrelink showing her Mum was receiving the maximum rate of JobSeeker Payment.

Outcome

Lisa received an educational adjustment to her selection rank based on her EAS application. The adjustment was sufficient to secure her a place in her first preference course. She became the first in her family to attend university and she’s now well on the way to becoming a primary school teacher. She’s encouraging her younger brother and sister to pursue university study, too.