An expanded Moreton Bay scholarship and bursary program is helping even more UniSC students to reach their full potential.
Several new students who have started degrees at UniSC campuses at Moreton Bay and Caboolture this semester have been presented with Moreton Bay Regional Council Scholarships for 2023, worth $8,000 for each year of study.
This is the fourth year Council has offered the scholarship program to help locals experiencing financial hardship go to university.
This year, in partnership with UniSC, Council is also providing a new $2,000 Study Support Bursary to 16 other students who are completing undergraduate degrees at UniSC Moreton Bay or UniSC Caboolture.
Some of the first students to receive a Moreton Bay Regional Council Scholarship in 2020, when the campus first opened, are due to graduate this year.
UniSC Vice-Chancellor and President Helen Bartlett said each scholarship winner was an inspiration to others in Moreton Bay who might not have considered tertiary education as an option due to financial or other barriers.
“We are so proud of their achievements and to see new recipients follow in their footsteps this year," Professor Bartlett said.
“Moreton Bay once had some of the lowest university attendance rates in Australia, so the growth we have seen in just three years has proven that demand for locally available university education is high.”
“This scholarship – and the Moreton Bay campus – is genuinely changing lives, with roughly 40 percent of the 4,000 students who are currently enrolled being the first in their family to study at university level." - Professor Helen Bartlett
Mayor Peter Flannery said the Council’s scholarship program was a great investment into the future leaders of Moreton Bay.
“This is life changing for some of these students who come through the Moreton Bay Regional Council Scholarship Program,” he said.
“It’s about giving those students who might not have financial support an opportunity to take on tertiary education and hope it will be paid back in the future, with many bright and talented students staying in Moreton Bay and giving back to our wonderful community.
“Before Council partnered with UniSC to build this magnificent campus, Moreton Bay students had to leave the region to get a higher education.
"This meant we were losing our best and brightest to Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and other parts of the country.
“Now they have one of the most modern universities in Australia to get the best education possible, with the financial support needed to be able to study successfully rather than work long hours to get by and potentially not be able to go to uni.
“I congratulate everyone who received a scholarship and a bursary this year and I encourage more students to apply next year because we have seen that it can be life-changing.”
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