Belts Tightened

Vic Bursaries Officer, Molly Thompson, explained the factors behind the increasing difficulty in getting the SHG.

It seems that the criteria itself had narrowed considerably since last year, with the effect that the Education Department is now "nit-picking" in its assessment procedures. The application form has been redesigned, with a change in format requiring more information about income, expenditure (vacation and in-term) and assets.

Students travelling overseas in the vacation unless approved to do so, will not be eligible for SHG.

Items of expenditure which students will not be allowed to claim for, seem to be continuously growing. This list includes virtually everything one could possibly spend money on, except food, rent, clothes, and textbooks. And considering that in several cases applicants have been turned down because of claims relating to these, the scheme seems to be rather stuffed.

Students who could not get vacation employment (due to sickness, etc) are not being treated sympathetically. It appears that parental income has become an increasingly important factor for those students under 20.