New scholarships give boost to Warrnambool students

The 18 new scholarships, supported by philanthropic foundations, Warrnambool City Council and Deakin, are on top of the University’s existing scholarships and awards program, which will mean another six students will also receive support to study at Deakin this year.

Deakin University Warrnambool Campus Director Alistair McCosh said the programs had prompted strong interest from across Victoria and interstate and had been fully subscribed.

Mr McCosh said the scholarships had played an important role in supporting students to study at Warrnambool.

The successful applicants were from Mt Gambier, NSW, Ballarat, Gippsland, Mornington Peninsula, as well as south-west Victorian locals taking up the offer of support to study on Campus.

Applications were received across all major faculty disciplines.

Mr McCosh said that in some cases the scholarships could mean the difference between being able to attend university or not.

“To receive a scholarship of this value is potentially life changing for some of these students as it means they can now attend university,” he said.

“It was great to see that we had students from across Victoria, South Australia and NSW apply and be successful for these very valuable scholarships.”

Mr McCosh said the community’s support was heartening.

“The generosity of Warrnambool City Council and several philanthropic trusts to support Deakin’s Warrnambool Campus through these 18 scholarships is greatly appreciated,” he added.

Through the new program for 18 students, five regional philanthropic foundations, along with the Warrnambool City Council and Deakin are contributing towards a new Deakin South West Scholarship Fund.

Mr McCosh said the philanthropic foundations were supporting the scholarship fund because they understood the significant social and economic benefits the Warrnambool Campus brought to the region. The foundations have asked to remain anonymous.

The fund aims to support as many students as possible to study in Warrnambool from 2017 to improve the vibrancy of the campus and ensure it continues to deliver a range of higher education degrees.