Applying for VTAC Equity Schemes and Scholarships (formerly SEAS)
Updated 25th August 2026
PLEASE NOTE: VTAC Equity Schemes and Scholarships application was called SEAS (Special Entry Access Scheme) up until 2025.
All students will now be assessed based on personal information and location included as part of your VTAC application regardless of whether they submit an Equity Schemes and Scholarships Application.
What is VTAC’s Equity Schemes and Scholarships Application?
In Victoria, once you have submitted your VTAC application, you will be able to apply for Equity Schemes and Scholarships through your VTAC account. Up until 2025, there were two separate applications - one for scholarships, and one called SEAS (Special Entry Access Scheme) to let universities and TAFEs know if something had been happening in your life that had made it difficult for you to study and prepare for assessment as well as you would have liked to. VTAC has now put these together in one Equity Schemes and Scholarship application.
How to apply for scholarships through vtac
Once you’ve created your VTAC application and put some courses into your preference list, you’ll be able to submit a Equity Schemes and Scholarship application.
For scholarships, you’ll need to complete a scholarship benefit statement, where you’ll need to explain how a scholarship will benefit your studies. You can also complete an optional additional statement about community service and leadership if that’s relevant to you.
what does vtac’s equity scheme cover
For the equity scheme section, please note that it may not be recognised by every tertiary institution or for all courses, but in general, it’s a way for you to let VTAC know how you have been affected by circumstances beyond your control. VTAC will assess your application and, if they agree that you’ve been adversely affected, they will add points to your aggregate, so you will end up with a new selection rank (adjusted ATAR) to be used by the tertiary institutions who do recognise the equity scheme. You won’t find out whether or not your application has been successful, or how much your ATAR was adjusted by.
The 3 main categories you can apply under are:
Financial Hardship
This category takes into account how your studies might have been affected if your family is disadvantaged financially. If you or your parent or guardian receive a benefit from Centrelink you can apply for this category and use the payment as evidence, however you don’t need to be receiving a benefit from Centrelink to be eligible.
Living with a Disability or Medical Condition
This category looks at how a disability or medical condition has affected your education. Examples of conditions that are eligible are neurodevelopmental disorders, physical disabilities, neurological disabilities, and vision, hearing or language impairments. If a condition has had a negative effect on your education, you should apply under this category.
Difficult Family or Life Circumstances
This category takes into account circumstances such as being a refugee or asylum seeker, family difficulties like the illness or death of a family member or the separation of parents, bullying or any form of abuse, and any other circumstance that is beyond your control and over and above what most students have to cope with.
what evidence will you need?
For each of the categories it depends on your exact circumstances, but in most cases you need to supply an impact statement by you and a support statement from someone not related to you who is over 21 and has an understanding of what’s been happening, for example a medical professional, councillor, teacher or family friend. The main focus of both statements is how the circumstances have affected your education, so you need to explain how or why you’ve been unable to study effectively, whether you had to miss a lot of classes, anything that made it difficult for you to do as well at school as you would have liked.
If you think you should apply for the Equity Scheme, make sure you head to the VTAC website to get all of the up-to-date information about how to apply for each of the categories, and if you’re still not sure, I suggest you check with a teacher or support staff at your school so they can help you. This scheme is there to create some equity and recognition for the fact that some students have more to overcome than others when it comes to school, so if you’re eligible make sure you get the assistance you need.
faqs
Q: What happened to SEAS?
A: VTAC Equity Scheme and Scholarship application has replaced SEAS, but it still covers the same educational disadvantages to make sure that everyone is assessed fairly for tertiary courses.
Q: How do I know if I should apply?
A: If you have suffered any educational disadvantage due to a condition or circumstance, you should submit an Equity Scheme and Scholarship application. VTAC will assess your application and decide whether you’re eligible or not. Make sure that you focus your application on the educational disadvantage, don’t just outline the circumstance.
Q: What counts as educational disadvantage?
A: An educational disadvantage is anything that stopped you from having the same educational experience as other people doing VCE that year. It could involve things like not being able to attend class, not being able to concentrate to study affectively for SACs and exams, or not having access to learning equipment and technology. If you feel that others had an advantage that you didn’t due to a condition or circumstance that you have suffered, then you should apply.
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