The Faculty Volunteer Peer Mentor Support Scheme can help ease financial stress and allow you to gain hands-on, relevant experience to support your professional growth.

The scheme is an equity initiative funded by a Commonwealth Government grant via the Higher Education Participation and Partnership Program (HEPPP). The scheme aims to help increase access, participation and success of domestic undergraduate students from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds, persons from regional areas and remote areas, and Indigenous persons.

2025 application dates

Benefits

Eligible students will receive a one-off $700 payment for participation in one trimester or semester.

Payment is contingent on meeting the requirements of participation as a volunteer peer mentor in your faculty peer mentor program.

Should you continue your involvement as a volunteer peer mentor in a future study period, you may be eligible to re-apply.

Eligibility criteria

To meet the eligibility criteria you must:

• be a domestic (Australian citizen, a holder of an Australian permanent humanitarian visa, an Australian Permanent Resident or a New Zealand citizen) undergraduate student in a Commonwealth Supported place
• be enrolled full time/ part time*
• be accepted into one of our four faculty peer mentor programs (i.e., Faculty of Business and Law, Faculty of Health, Faculty of Arts and Education, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment) as a volunteer peer mentor within the given trimester or semester and participate in agreed tasks within your applicable faculty peer mentor program.
• not already hold a bachelor’s degree (from any university).
• be able to demonstrate one of the following:
  • be from low SES background, which for the purpose of HEPPP funded scholarships is defined as either:
    • having a home address in the lowest quartile of the SEIFA Education and Occupation Index, or
    • being in receipt of Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY (Living Allowance), Austudy, Pensioner Education Supplement, ABSTUDY Pensioner Education Supplement or ABSTUDY Away From Base Assistance
  • be from a regional or remote area as defined by the Australian Statistical Geography Standard – Remoteness Ares (ASGS-RA)
  • be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.

*Payments received by students enrolled-part time may be classified by the Australian Taxation Office as taxable income. Recipients are responsible for determining whether their payment is taxable and reporting their payment as taxable income if applicable.

How to apply

When applying for this scheme in the portal, select the 'HEPPP Retention and Support Scholarship' option and, if eligible, your application will automatically be considered for the Faculty Volunteer Peer Mentor Support Scheme.

Applications open on Thursday 13 February 2025. Apply in the Scholarship Application Portal using the button below.

APPLY NOW

Selection criteria

• You will be assessed based on the information you provide in your application.
• In the online application you will be asked to provide information about yourself and to demonstrate why you require financial assistance to complete your role as a faculty volunteer peer mentor.
• You will find out if you were successful usually within four weeks of the application closing date, via your Deakin email. If you have not received an offer by this time, you have been unsuccessful. You can view the status of your application via your scholarship application portal account.

Important information

• This scheme is designed specifically to assist students who are involved as a volunteer faculty peer mentor. Students who have participated in other mentor programs at Deakin (e.g. Writing and Maths Mentor) are not eligible to apply.
• We advise you to consult your faculty peer mentor program to identify if you meet the requirements of a volunteer peer mentor.
• Please note, your application will not be considered until your volunteer role is confirmed by your faculty mentor program.
• If you have already commenced as a faculty peer mentor, you can still apply for the Faculty Volunteer Peer Mentor Student Support Scheme during the application opening and closing dates for the trimester or semester you are volunteering.
• Students can apply for and receive the grant in each period that they are a volunteer peer mentor.

Other assistance

For further information about the scheme please contact your applicable faculty mentor program.

Faculty of Health
health-mentor@deakin.edu.au

Faculty of Business and Law
bl-mentor@deakin.edu.au

Faculty of Arts and Education
artsedmentor@deakin.edu.au

Faculty of Science Engineering and Built Environment
sebe-tet@deakin.edu.au

View more information on financial assistance at Deakin