Graduate research scholarships

Benefits

Research scholarships may provide a stipend, specific allowance or tuition fee remission or offset.

Scholarship benefits can only be activated if you have accepted your scholarship offer, commenced your course, updated your bank details and met the conditions of your scholarship as specified in your scholarship offer.

For more information, see: Graduate research scholarship terms and conditions

Payments

Scholarship payments are processed fortnightly through the University’s Payroll system. See: Scholarship payment dates.

Scholarship payslips show the name of the scholarship(s) for which you have received a payment, details of individual payments and adjustments under Direct Payments, and the total amount paid under Payment Summary.

To find your payslip details:

1. Log on to my.unimelb
2. Click on Scholarships and Award
3. Select Scholarship payslips

Go to my.unimelb

Fee remissions

Domestic graduate researchers who are offered a masters degree by research or doctoral degree will be enrolled in a fee exempt place and receive a Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship to acknowledge the contribution from the Australian Government towards the cost of their tuition.

Please note tuition fee remission scholarships do not cover the Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF). If the SSAF appears on your Statement of Liability, you are required to pay it.

International graduate researchers who receive a scholarship that provides a partial or full fee remission will have their remission activated after accepting their course and scholarship offer, and before they are due to commence their course. If you do receive an invoice, please contact Stop 1.

Overseas Student Health Cover

Some scholarships for international graduate researchers who require a student visa to study in Australia will provide Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC). If the University arranges OSHC on your behalf, the membership cost is automatically covered.

Your bank and address details

To receive scholarship payments, you will need to provide us with the details of your Australian bank account and address via my.unimelb. You can update or check your details after you have accepted your scholarship offer, or if you are currently located outside Australia and do not have an Australian bank account, you can wait until you arrive in Melbourne and activated your bank account.

Scholarship payments can only be made to an Australian bank account (BSB code and account number) Most Authorised Deposit-taking Institution registered with the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority are banks that require you to confirm your identity in person at one of their branches in Australia before you can transact on your account. Others provide online money transfer services (‘purchased payment facilities’), for example Wise (TransferWise), that allow you to create a currency account with a BSB code and account number online without needing to be present in Australia. Research your options before deciding on setting up a bank account.

To check and update your bank details:

1. Log on to my.unimelb
2. Click on the Scholarships and Award tile and go to the Provide Bank Details tab
3. Select My bank details under Summary
4. Update your details
5. Click Save to update your bank details

Go to my.unimelb

Please note:

• You will need the name and six-digit BSB number of your bank. If you do not know your BSB, contact your bank.
• The BSB and account number should only contain numbers. Do not include dashes, letters or spaces - this will cause an error which stops us processing your payment.

For information on how to check or update your address details, see how do I update my contact details?
Make sure the name of your suburb is spelt correctly and your postcode and suburb match. If you are not sure, check the Australia Post Find a Postcode website.

Payments may be delayed if we do not have your bank details or if the details you provided are incorrect.

Income tax

Scholarship payments are normally exempt from income tax, as long as you are enrolled full-time and the scholarship is provided for educational purposes (i.e. not as part of an employment or service agreement).

If you are enrolled part-time, the University will withhold income tax from your scholarship payments to avoid the accumulation of a tax debt. You will be asked to provide a Tax File Number Declaration with your instructions on the treatment of the tax-free threshold, and at the end of each financial year you will be able to access your income statement via myGov to use for your Tax Return. We recommend you seek independent tax advice to ensure that your individual circumstances are covered.

For more information, see:

• Australian Taxation Office: Is my scholarship taxable?
• Tax Help program

Evidence of your scholarship

Your scholarships, bursaries or prizes will be included in your academic transcript and Australian Higher Education Graduation Statement (AHEGS), as well as your Statement of Results.

If you require a more detailed statement of your scholarships or studentship as proof of income or eligibility (e.g. for a visa, loan, or course/ scholarship application), you can request an Evidence of Scholarship Statement.

The Evidence of Scholarship Statement includes:

• Your full name, date of birth and student ID number
• The name, start and end date, and value of your scholarship(s).

Once you place an order, a digital copy will be sent to your student email address.