Supporting documentation

Supporting documents are documents that may be required to substantiate certain areas of your application. They may include payslips, resumes, academic recommendations and references, tax assessment notices, etc, and are used by our selection officers to determine your eligibility for our bursaries, grants and scholarships.

The areas in which you may be required to provide evidence (supporting documentation) are listed below. Please click on the applicable area to find further details regarding the types of suitable evidence which can be submitted to support your scholarship application.

Your Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage is something that is personal and you do not need a 'letter of confirmation' to identify as an Indigenous person. However you may be asked to provide a confirmation of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander form or letter when applying for Indigenous-specific scholarships, bursaries and grants.

For further assistance please contact:

Aboriginal Education Centre - Federation University Australia
Website: Aboriginal Education Centre
Contact us

Non-FedUni qualifications and results

If you are required to submit evidence of a non-FedUni academic qualification and/or results, you will need to provide certified copies of your official Academic Transcript and/or your testamur/certificate. Any documents that are not in English need to be officially translated and submitted along with copies of the document in the original language.

FedUni qualifications and results

If you are required to provide evidence of your FedUni qualifications and/or results, you will need to obtain an Academic Statement from MyStudentCentre, and, in some cases, get your program coordinator or supervisor to confirm that the academic statement is both current and correct. To ensure that it is confirmed wholly by your program coordinator/supervisor, make sure they add their full name, position title and dated signature at the bottom of the statement.

Some scholarships, bursaries and grants require evidence of current employment. In all cases where it is required, payslips or payment summaries are preferred. Letters from employers outlining your terms of employment are not substantial enough to validate current employment.

When providing payslips or payment summaries, please ensure the below criteria is met:

  • Three (3) payslips or payment summaries are provided
  • The payslips or payment summaries are not older than three (3) months from the date of submission
  • The payslips or payment summaries contain the below information on each one:
    • Australian Business Number (ABN) of your employer
    • The full business name of your employer
    • Your full name
    • The pay period dates and payment date
    • Your gross pay and net pay totals

Please note: 'Cash in hand' employment is not accepted as legitimate employment.

Depending on your disability or medical condition, we may require certain documentation to assess your eligibility for specific scholarships, bursaries and grants. In most cases a medical certificate provided by your general practitioner or specialist will suffice, but in some cases more specific information may be required, e.g. specialist medical reports, rehabilitation reports, etc. Your GP should be able to help you collect the required information.

All medical certificates/reports provided need to meet the following criteria:

  • Legible and written so that a non-medical person is able to read and understand it (e.g. avoiding unnecessary abbreviations and medical jargon).
  • Contain the full name of the person with the disability or medical condition
  • Be written on official practice letterhead with the name, address and signature of the medical practitioner issuing the certificate/report
  • Contain the date of issue of the certificate/report
  • Contain the date of examination
  • If applicable, contain the dates the patient was unfit for attendance or normal duties

Guidelines for Medical Practitioners on Certificates Certifying Illness 2011 (pdf, 42kb)

For further assistance please contact:

Disability Support - Federation University Australia
Website: Disability Support
Email: disability@federation.edu.au

Health Centre - Federation University Australia
Website: Health Centre
Phone: Mt Helen - (03) 5327 9477
Gippsland - (03) 5122 6425

Some scholarships require evidence of past employment and/or experience via the submission of a curriculum vitae (CV) or resume. Your CV or resume should contain the below:

  • Your full name and current contact details
  • Your employment history and a brief outline of the tasks/responsibilities within each role
  • Your educational qualifications and awards
  • A list of at least three (3) professional references and their current contact details.
  • Page numbers in either the header or footer on every page

The Federation University's Edge has some great resources for writing and presenting curriculum vitae and resumes.

There are a number of different evidence requirements that need to be met when providing evidence of English language proficiency. Generally, the below are acceptable forms of evidence for English language proficiency:

Read further information regarding the requirements for providing evidence of English language proficiency.

Many factors are taken into account when assessing financial hardship. Providing one or more of the pieces of evidence listed below aids the selection officers in assessing your eligibility for certain scholarships, bursaries and grants. These are also relevant for providing evidence for your parents, guardians and partners financial hardship.

  • Tax Assessment Notice for the last financial year
  • Payslip or payment summary with year-to-date pay clearly displayed
    (Please see 'Employment and experience - current' section for other payslip/payment summary requirements)
  • Centrelink Customer CRN number
    (Please note: By providing your CRN number as evidence you are giving FedUni permission to confirm your Centrelink income via the Department of Human Services)
  • Letter from doctor verifying the inability to earn an income due to illness or caring for a sick family member
  • Official notice of any of the following:
    • eviction
    • disconnection of essential services (not including internet or mobile phone)
    • repossession (property or car)
    • impending legal action
    • overdue medical bills

Please note: The above is a general list of evidence commonly submitted to determine financial hardship. Submitting other forms of evidence to show financial hardship is permissible and is up to the discretion of the applicant.

In some scholarship applications you may be asked to provide a statement regarding your personal circumstances.

Personal circumstances are the circumstances in your life where certain personal challenges have presented themselves. Examples of these challenges are the death of a family member or close relative, the challenges of raising a child or children as a single parent, a persistent or long-term medical condition, domestic violence, separation and divorce (either yourself or your parents/guardians), and other significant events that you feel have affected or are effecting your ability to participate fully (emotionally and/or physically) in regular day to day living.

When writing the required statement keep the following points in mind.

  • Take your time. Do not rush the writing of your statement. Take your time to ensure it's written well and give yourself plenty of time to reassess what you've written.
  • Be concise and to the point. Some statements may need you to meet a certain word limit, so keeping your statement brief and to the point will aid you in keeping under this word limit without having to omit information.
  • Write truthfully and honestly. It is of no benefit to yourself or your application if you provide a statement that does not speak the truth. You may be asked to elaborate or to provide further information to support your statement at a later stage, and if you have written honestly you will be able to provide this information confidently.
  • Spell check and read over your statement before you submit it. Incorrect spelling and grammar can sometimes make written information hard to understand for the reader. If you are unsure, get someone you trust to read over it for you and make suggestions as to how it could be written better.

If you are applying for a merit-based scholarship, you will probably need one or more letters of recommendation, (sometimes also called personal references).

Letters of recommendation provide information from an employer, a work experience supervisor, a placement supervisor or an academic coordinator who at one stage or another has been professionally or academically involved with you. This outside source provides a valuable record of your previous experience and can testify to your skills and abilities.

Make sure when you are submitting a letter of recommendation or personal reference it contains the following details:

  • the date it was written
  • the writer's full name, position title and contact details
  • your full name, position title (if applicable), and student number (if applicable)

Important things to note

  • Failure to include the required documentation could delay or even invalidate your application.
  • You are not required to submit support documents (evidence) unless you are specifically asked in your application to do so.
  • If you are required to provide supporting documentation by mail or post, please ensure they are certified copies of the original documents and not the original documents themselves. Originals received by FedUni will not be retained or returned.
  • Separate applications each require a separate set of supporting documents.
  • All documents submitted electronically should be in a universally accessible format e.g. PDF, DOC or JPG, and should not exceed a file size of 10 MB each.
  • Documents that are not in English need to be officially translated, and both a copy of the original document in it's original language and it's translation need to be submitted
  • All information collected to determine scholarship eligibility will be stored securely as per our Information Privacy Policy. We will also take all reasonable steps to ensure that the information we receive and hold is up to date, but it is your responsibility to ensure that up to date and accurate information is provided.
  • We regularly checks applications and submitted documentation for evidence of fraud. You may be asked to provide an original version or certified copy of any document you have submitted.