FAQs about the Educational Access Scheme

Before you can apply for EAS, you must apply for undergraduate admission through UAC.

Once you have submitted your undergraduate application, you can immediately access the EAS application via the ‘Apply for EAS’ button, or at any time by logging in to your undergraduate application.

Yes, you can apply but the following seven institutions do not give EAS consideration to EAS applicants who are currently undertaking, or who have previously undertaken, tertiary study:

• Australian National University
• Charles Sturt University
• University of New England
• University of Sydney
• University of Wollongong
• UNSW Sydney
• Western Sydney University.

For EAS purposes, tertiary study includes diploma, advanced diploma, associate diploma, degree or higher level studies undertaken either in Australia or overseas.

If you have a record of tertiary study, your EAS eligibility for these institutions will always be ‘No’.

Yes, but you can only claim consideration for EAS circumstances, not those that are a result of your sporting and/or performance (eg being absent from school to train or compete).

Some institutions apply an elite athlete and performer adjustment when making offers of admission. Check with the institution.

If you are eligible for consideration under EAS and your ATAR is below the required selection rank for a course, an institution can increase your selection rank for that course by applying an equity adjustment (previously referred to as bonus points) or allocate you a place reserved for eligible EAS applicants.

You may be eligible for EAS consideration at an institution but not receive EAS equity adjustments for a particular course preference, or receive different adjustments for different course preferences. This is because some institutions apply EAS equity adjustment exceptions to some courses and not others.

Your EAS equity adjustments will automatically be taken into account by all the institutions you have in your list of preferences on the closing date for change of preferences for each offer round.

Being eligible for EAS equity adjustments doesn’t guarantee you an offer of admission; it simply makes you more competitive.

No. We can only tell you whether or not you are eligible for EAS consideration (in general) at an institution. We can't tell you if, or by how much, your selection rank for each of your course preferences at that institution will be increased.

If you're a Year 12 applicant, we'll send you an email about your EAS eligibility after ATAR release. If you're a non-Year 12 applicant, we'll generally send you this email 10 working days after you apply.

Some institutions provide details of their EAS equity adjustments on their websites.

No. Institutions adjust your selection rank for a particular preference or course; your ATAR does not change.

You will receive an email telling you if you are eligible for EAS consideration at each of UAC's participating institutions, regardless of the course preferences in your application. You will not be told whether or not your selection ranks for your particular course preferences will be increased.

Year 12 applicants will receive this email after ATAR release. Non-Year 12 applicants will generally receive this email 10 working days after applying.

The circumstances that institutions will consider under EAS are grouped into nine broad categories

• disrupted schooling
• financial challenges
• severe family disruption
• excessive family responsibilities
• English language difficulties
• personal illness/disability
• refugee status
• school environment
• socio-economic disadvantage.

When you apply, make sure you provide all information and documents specified in the EAS category tables.

There is no limit to the number of circumstances you can claim. You can apply for all the circumstances that have had an impact on you.

Make sure you read through the EAS categories for more information.

Yes. If you’ve submitted your EAS application but want to add more circumstances, simply log in to your application, add the new circumstances and upload documentation to support your claim. You will need to provide a completed document cover sheet and supporting documentation for the new claims.

The closing dates and guidelines that applied to your original application also apply to additional claims and documentation.

Adding circumstances to an existing EAS application may result in an offer of admission in an upcoming offer round, but will not result in reconsideration of offers of admission made by institutions in previous offer rounds.

You can log back in to your application to add new EAS circumstances but you cannot remove circumstances you have already claimed.

If you no longer want to claim a particular circumstance, or you cannot provide the required documents, don’t worry: we will still assess your application and if you are not eligible for consideration for that circumstance it won’t affect your eligibility for others you’ve claimed. It will help our assessors if you contact UAC Customer Service to tell us you no longer want a circumstance to be considered.

Please note that our system will automatically send you a 'missing documents' reminder email if you have not uploaded any documents 10 days after you submit your EAS application. You can disregard this email if you no longer want the relevant circumstance to be considered.

No, any illness or misadventure that impacts your HSC (or equivalent) exams is not considered under EAS. NESA has an illness and misadventure process for HSC students who experience these circumstances.

If you are a current Year 12 student, circumstances that arise after September are not eligible for EAS assessment, as they will not have had an impact on your Year 12 studies.

Documents must be uploaded to the EAS section of your UAC undergraduate application.

Emailed, posted or delivered documents are not accepted.

Yes. You can upload documents to your application at any time before the closing date for each offer round.

All documents must be uploaded as PDFs to your application. No hardcopy documents will be accepted.

We highly recommend that a school staff member complete the educational impact statement, as they will be best placed to determine the impact of the claimed circumstances on the student. However, we will assess a statement from any responsible person who can, with authority, speak on the educational impact of the student’s circumstances.

If you’re unable to have your school complete the statement, you must attach an explanation as to why your school can’t complete it and the relationship between you and the responsible person. A responsible person is a doctor, lawyer, accountant, social worker, counsellor, religious or community leader who is familiar with your circumstances and who can provide information regarding your circumstances and their effect on your ability to study. The person must:

• not be a family member or a friend
• confirm their relationship to you
• explain if or how the circumstances you’ve experienced have affected your studies.

A responsible person is a doctor, lawyer, accountant, social worker, counsellor, religious or community leader who is familiar with your circumstances and who can provide information regarding how those circumstances have affected your ability to study. The person must:

• not be a family member or a friend
• confirm their relationship to you
• explain if or how the circumstances you’ve experienced have affected your studies.

Most GPs will know a person's background and circumstances but it is recommended that the medical professional who is treating you for your condition complete the required documents as they understand your illness and how it is affecting you.

Equity Scholarships consider how an applicant's circumstances will likely impact their tertiary studies (ie future impact).

The Educational Access Scheme (EAS) considers how an applicant's circumstances impacted their Year 11 and/or 12 (or equivalent) studies (ie past impact).

Generally, this means that UAC requires different educational impact statements and, where required, medical impact statements for each scheme. For some conditions, such as ADHD/autism and spectrum disorders, there may be an opportunity to use the same documents. However, it is in your best interests to provide the correct documents for the correct scheme to ensure the most accurate assessment.

We ask for a death certificate or funeral notice.

We will accept a memorial booklet, order of service or obituary if the name of the deceased and the date is printed on the document.

An educational impact statement from your school or responsible person is also required.

We suggest you talk to the medical practitioners and responsible persons completing these statements and see how they would like to present the information.

We will take your evidence in one document, or multiple documents; whatever is best for you and those assisting you.

You can download the blank educational impact statement and medical impact statement as many times as you like.

We are unable to give you an update on your EAS application during the admissions period.

We are also unable to preview documents or evidence prior to it being uploaded to your application.

We guarantee we will assess all the documents you upload.

If everything is completed prior to the key cut-off dates, you will receive an email telling you if you are eligible. Year 12 applicants will receive this email after ATAR release. Non-Year 12 applicants will generally receive this email 10 working days after applying.

You will most likely receive an error message if the file name of the document you are uploading is too long. Please shorten the file name to 35 characters or less before you upload.

The file will automatically be linked to your application, regardless of the name you give the file.

ANU Admissions Scholarship and Accommodation (ASA) applications and UAC EAS applications are two separate processes.

You can use your ANU ASA documents/forms to support your UAC undergraduate EAS application. However, you will need to upload the documents to both applications. They won’t automatically be transferred to your UAC EAS application.