Student Hardship Assistance Grants

What is a Student Hardship Assistance Grant?

Student Hardship Assistance Grants are cash grants and/or vouchers (e.g. Coles, Myki, Prezzee, other suppliers) of up to $1,000 to help students experiencing financial hardship. 

The cash grants and/or vouchers are to help students meet urgent and essential short-term needs, such as the costs for:

• Food
• Travel
• Living expenses
• Medical costs
• Direct study expenses

You may be eligible for additional financial support if you are establishing new accommodation (e.g. vouchers to help purchase essential appliances or homewares). If you would like to request this, please include details in Requested Costs – Section 5 of your Student Hardship Assistance Grant application.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for a grant, you must be an RMIT student (domestic or international) experiencing financial difficulty which is affecting your ability to study. You must also be able to provide evidence of current financial hardship. 

Grants are provided where you can demonstrate that one-off assistance will support your studies. Assistance is not available for RMIT fees, reimbursements or debt payment.

Examples of circumstances in which students may be eligible for a grant include:

• Unexpected and recent medical costs
• Recent loss of employment impacting on ability to cover living expenses
• Relationship breakdown or other unexpected situation resulting in need to find new rental accommodation
• Unexpected failure of a laptop that is necessary for studies
• Unexpected changes to your work placement or WIL arrangements out of your control (e.g. short notice change of placement arranged by Program, COVID-19 travel restrictions necessitate alternative accommodation arrangements)
• Natural disaster (e.g. flood, fire).

Who is not eligible?

You are not eligible for a Student Hardship Assistance Grant if:

• You have access to other funds (e.g. personal savings, money from family)
• You have RMIT fees due within 30 days, or RMIT fees overdue – fees need to be paid before you are eligible for a Student Hardship Assistance Grant
• You are not a current RMIT student
• You are applying with the same circumstances as a previous application
• You do not to provide all documentation required for an application, including bank statements of all accounts and evidence of your personal circumstances.

If you’re not sure if you’re eligible or need assistance understanding what evidence you need to provide to demonstrate your eligibility, book a free financial welfare advice appointment to discuss your circumstances before you apply for a grant.