Educational Access Scheme

Everyone’s study journey looks different. The Educational Access Scheme (EAS) recognises that factors such as financial hardship, difficult home or school circumstances, personal illness or disability, or English language barriers may have impacted your results.

This scheme can provide up to 5 adjustments to your selection rank (e.g. an ATAR of 85 could be increased to a selection rank of 90), potentially helping you get into a program with a higher entry threshold.

The scheme is administered by the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC).

EAS categories and eligibility

To apply for this scheme, you must be:

an Australian citizen, permanent resident or New Zealand citizen, and
applying to study through QTAC.

There are 5 categories you can apply under, outlined in the table below.

Category	You may be eligible if	Full criteria
Financial hardship	You, your partner or your parents receive the full amount of a fortnightly payment from Centrelink, or your household income is less than ~$107,000 a year – depending on your circumstances and the size of your family. Make sure you check the full criteria.	Financial hardship criteria
Challenging home environment	Conflict, drug use, abuse, caring responsibilities (for siblings or adults), death or serious illness of a household member, or other things have made your home environment unstable.	Challenging home environment criteria
Personal illness or disability	You have experienced a short- or long-term illness or disability (including physical, psychological, or learning difficulties).	Personal illness or disability criteria
Challenging school environment	You attended remote schooling, you had more than 2 hours' (round trip) travel time to school, or your school was affected by a natural disaster, significant conflict or other challenging issues.	Challenging school environment criteria
English language difficulty	English is not your first language.	English language difficulty criteria

How to apply

What you need to apply

To apply, you’ll need to submit a cover sheet for each category you want to apply for, plus supporting documents.

You can get a maximum of 5 adjustment points in total across all categories – you may be able to get this with just 1 category, but it’s worth applying for all categories you think you can meet the criteria for.

Processing can take up to 6 weeks. Apply early to ensure your adjustment points are considered in time for offer rounds. Check QTAC dates for document deadlines.

Application process

You apply for the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) through your QTAC application.

Check your eligibility
- Review the EAS categories and decide which ones apply to your situation. Download the relevant coversheets – these explain what you need to provide.
Prepare your documents
- Gather your supporting evidence. Some documents may need to be witnessed.
Submit through QTAC
- In your QTAC application, go to the EAS section and choose all categories that apply to you. After you submit your application, you’ll receive alerts in the QTAC portal prompting you to upload your coversheets and supporting documents.
- Already submitted your QTAC application? You can still apply by uploading your completed coversheets and supporting documents through the QTAC document upload form.

What happens next

QTAC will assess your application, which can take up to 6 weeks. If your application is approved, we will automatically add the adjustment points to your selection rank – you don't need to do anything further.

If you applied under the Financial Hardship category, you'll receive your outcome through the QTAC portal. You can log in at any time to check the status of your application and see documents you submitted.

If you applied for other EAS categories, contact QTAC to confirm whether an adjustment has been approved.

Phone: 1300 467 822
Email: qtacinfo@qtac.edu.au

QTAC will contact you if they need more evidence to assess your application. If so, you should provide this as soon as you can to avoid missing the deadline for assessment.

You may be eligible for multiple scholarships

If you get the maximum points for the EAS Financial Hardship category, you will be automatically awarded The Queensland Commitment Scholarship at UQ. This scholarship provides $7,000 a year for the duration of your degree. (There is no limit on the number awarded!)

You may also be eligible for other equity scholarships at UQ.