How do education scholarships help students succeed?

For many of us, the biggest worry about the school year ahead isn’t likely to be what’s on the curriculum.

It’s all those back-to-school expenses that seem to come up all at once before the school year starts: laptops and devices, new shoes and uniforms, stationery and supplies. Not to mention the school camp deposit or school photos and everything else that might come up.

While Australian public school tuition is free, thanks to all those “extra” necessities, a public education isn’t. And in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, where everything just seems to be getting more and more expensive all the time, many families feel that worry and financial pain every term.

Public education scholarships exist to help meet these expenses and to assuage that worry. They’re paid directly right when they’re needed most. But how do student scholarships help them succeed?

how much does a public education cost?

According to a 2026 Resolve/Futurity survey, 90 percent of parents believe education is extremely or very important to their child thriving in life, and 97 percent believe parents should financially contribute to their child’s school education.

This is despite a 2026 Independent Schools Australia survey finding that more than half of families were struggling with the cost of education, with many worried about being able to afford back-to-school costs.

In 2026, parents across Australia and public, Catholic and independent schools paid an average of $2,847 per primary school child per year, and $5,310 on secondary students for back-to-school costs such as tuition fees, camps, excursions, sporting equipment and transport costs. Devices added another $244 to $300 a year.

Not everyone pays for all these, and lots of parents, especially in Australian public schools, don’t pay anything at all.

Still, 1 in 3 families — equivalent to 819,000 households — can’t afford back-to-school expenses such as stationery and uniforms. 13% say they’ll have to go into debt to pay for back-to-school costs, and four percent say their child will have to go without.

It’s estimated the cost of raising a child can be anywhere from $130,000 to $300,000 over 18 years — before you even factor in childcare fees and the cost of education. Futurity Investment Group modelled the cost of educating one child from kindy to Year 12 between 2026 and 2038.

Averaged across all major cities, that worked out to $113,594 for public schools, with regional and remote government schooling costing an average $94,842.

So, what does a student scholarship actually pay for?

Public Education Foundation student scholarships are designed to help students overcome the economic barriers to enjoy a full education and achieve their full potential. PEF education scholarships pay towards the real costs of education: laptops and devices, school supplies and stationery, uniforms and shoes, camps and excursions, and all the other things that don’t just make school fulfilling, but fill a resume to ensure greater opportunities beyond school, such as early university admissions or scholarships.

Some run for a single year, while others can support a student across their school career. And all of them may be the difference between getting on the bus to camp with your friends or being left behind.

Looking back over the past year or so, do you remember what your child had to opt out of because you couldn’t afford it? Or what necessities you might have had to cut back on or sacrifice just to find the money to save their disappointment?

Today, more and more families could tell you in a second.

how much does financial hardship cost an education?

Financial hardship and pressure don’t just mean missing camps. It can affect an entire education: whether it’s having to take an extra night shift to help out, or not having access to the internet at home. It all adds up, putting a student further and further behind every term.

Too often, students and their families find they just can’t afford the cost of education — and too often, it means they have to give it up, just to survive. Many students experiencing financial hardship don’t drop out because they’ve failed. They drop out because they couldn’t get the support they needed.

The cost of leaving school early is great — and increases with time. The Smith Family tracked young people on educational scholarships and found 68% had completed Year 12 by 2023. Among those who left school early, 67% were in work or study the following year, against 76% of Year 12 completers. Only 38% of early leavers were fully engaged at 35 hours or more a week, compared with 52% of completers.

That cost goes even further. Australian students whose parents didn’t finish secondary school sit around three years behind their peers in numeracy by Year 9.

That hasn’t got anything to do with ability. But it’s got everything to do with affordability and opportunity.

And it goes far beyond school. In a 2026 national study of school students’ post-school plans, 73% of students at high-advantage schools expected to go to university, compared with 25% at low-advantage schools.

Those students had to do the sums: and looking relocation costs, subject fees and the price of the extracurricular activities that make an application competitive, had to make a heartbreaking decision. Teachers said the same thing their students did: cost, over and over, was what stood between a capable kid and their future.

Those hard decisions are often when a family has to choose between a new laptop and the electricity bill. Sound familiar?

But what help is there is often limited. A study of 244 Australian secondary schools found that only about one in four hosted any university-run equity initiative, and just seven percent of those initiatives offered tangible resources such as scholarships, financial assistance or laptops. Schools within five kilometres of a university were nearly five times more likely to have a program than schools 20 kilometres out. 60% of those initiatives were aimed at Year 12 students, with only 23% offered to Year 7 students.

While it may seem to make sense to focus these university equity programs for kids about to graduate, it might be too late: they’ve already chosen their subjects, thought about whether uni’s for them, and whether they can afford it.

But the time to catch them is before they might drop out, and to help those kids in the places where they need the most support.

How do PEF education scholarships help students succeed?

We’ve been answering that question with advocacy and action since 2009.

In 2024–25, working with 201 schools around the country, we awarded 471 new student scholarships and six educator scholarships worth $1,687,627. Since 2009 we’ve funded 3,923 student scholarships and 167 educator scholarships, worth close to $12 million.

That’s nearly 4,000 kids given opportunities to reach their fullest potential and realise their dreams and ambitions.

That’s not the most interesting or inspiring part.

• • 81% of our scholarship students reported improved academic results
• • 81% said it assisted them to participate and feel included in school activities and the school community
• • 83% reported a better experience of school
• • 94% said the scholarship had a positive impact on their goals, and
• • 96% said they studied harder.

Most importantly, 94% reported greater confidence and pride.

Confidence isn’t a nice to have. It’s what makes a kid put their hand up in class, step up for that extension subject, step forward for a leadership role, put their name down for the school play and put their uni application in. 77% of our scholarship students said their PEF education scholarship had encouraged them to become a role model or leader for other young people, and 89% said that it had relieved stress on their family.

For some, that was life changing. As one said, ‘I could work on my assessments at home for the first time.’

Another: ‘I was able to get support with my assignment which was done on time and I passed all my subjects.’

And another: ‘[It] helped me decide on my career path.’

For many kids, all they need to unlock their potential and their future is a little help at the right time. What if money stopped being the one deciding factor that prevented them from doing that?

EDUCATION Scholarships are about more than money

A payment may change a budget. But a scholarship can change a life.

PEF education scholarships don’t just come with money: they also come with academic and social support coordinated directly with teachers and principals, and student scholarship recipients are recognised at our annual Proudly Public! Awards.

But we don’t just support students. We offer professional development scholarships for early career teachers and to outstanding principals to study at the prestigious Harvard Graduate School of Education.

And in helping support and develop educators, we compound the support not only scholarship students get but every student whose life those teachers and principals’ touch.

With 77% of our scholarship students saying that their PEF education scholarship had encouraged them to become a role model or leader for other young people, the effect of just one scholarship can have far reaching impacts, helping students below them to reimagine what’s possible for them too.

HOw can you apply for a PEF education scholarship?

If you’re a student reading this and wondering whether you have a shot at winning one of our PEF student scholarships… well, you won’t know until you take it.

But the truth is that the students who most deserve these scholarships are the ones most likely to assume they were meant for someone else.

PEF offers more than 60 kinds of scholarships from primary school, through high school and up to uni, including awards for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students from refugee backgrounds, students living with disability, and students in rural and regional communities. Applications open on a rolling calendar:

• • uni from late June to early September every year
• • high school from mid July to late September
• • primary from early August to early October, and
• • principals and teachers from early September to late January.

Three things worth doing before you start applying:

• • Talk to your principal and teachers. Principals and teachers often nominate, endorse and coach applicants, and they’ll usually know which scholarship fits you.
• • Write about your circumstances plainly. Tell us how a scholarship would help you and what it would change for you.
• • Apply for more than one. Different scholarships are looking for different things, and a knock-back from one doesn’t mean you won’t get the next.

And if you’re reading this as a parent: don’t feel you can’t ask for help to enable your child to succeed. That’s why we’re here, and that’s what we’re here for.

What does this mean for you?

Everyone deserves the best education to help them achieve their dreams.

What it costs to get one should never decide who gets to.

We support students  because they have the potential, but not the resources.

Education scholarships can’t fix everything, but for the student who gets one, things can change overnight.

Camp is doable. The laptop arrives. That night shift can be dropped.

And the future they might have thought was once out of reach becomes potentially achievable.

So: what would change for you or your child if money stopped being the reason preventing them from becoming the best version of themselves they can be?

If you know the answer, then please apply now. https://www.publiceducationfoundation.org.au/scholarships/

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