5 things you need to know about EAS

The Educational Access Scheme (EAS) helps UAC applicants who have encountered significant educational challenges. It gives them the opportunity to have their circumstances taken into account when institutions select applicants for courses.

If you are a current Year 12 student applying for EAS, you’ll need to submit your application and documents by 21 November 2024 for the application to be considered for December Round 2 (23 December), the main ATAR-based offer round.

Here are five things to help you navigate the EAS application process (including how to troubleshoot problems with uploading your documents).

1. Who can apply for EAS

To be eligible for EAS consideration, your Year 11 and/or 12 studies (or equivalent) must have been seriously affected by circumstances beyond your control or choosing.

You must also be:

• a UAC undergraduate applicant
• an Australian citizen, a New Zealand citizen or a permanent resident of Australia (including a holder of an Australian permanent resident humanitarian visa).

International students are not eligible to apply for EAS.

2. EAS circumstances you can claim

The circumstances you are claiming for EAS must be beyond your control or choosing. They must have occurred in Year 11 and/or 12 or equivalent (up to the end of September 2024).

There are 26 specific circumstances that institutions will consider under EAS. You should claim all that apply to you. The circumstances are grouped into nine broad categories:

• disrupted schooling
• financial challenges
• severe family disruption
• excessive family responsibilities
• English language difficulty
• personal illness/disability
• refugee and humanitarian status
• school environment
• socio-economic indexes for areas (automatically claimed for you if you meet the criteria).

Adding or removing circumstances

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.

3. Documents you’ll need to upload to your EAS application

Three main types of documents are commonly required for an EAS application:

• Applicant statement – Complete the applicant statement in your own words, providing all the factual details requested while being as precise and specific as possible.
• Educational impact statement – Written by a responsible person (eg school principal, counsellor, year adviser, careers adviser) who can comment on the impact of your circumstances on your education.
• Medical impact statement – Must be completed by a registered health professional who is treating your medical condition/disability.

Other documentation may also be required depending on the circumstances you are claiming. Check the circumstances you can claim under EAS and required documents so you know exactly what you’ll need to prepare.

How to upload your supporting documents

You can upload documents to the EAS section of your UAC undergraduate application at any time before the closing date for each offer round. All documents must be uploaded as PDFs to your application. Emailed, posted or delivered documents are not accepted.

Having trouble uploading your documents? If you're receiving an error message when you attempt to upload a supporting document, the file name of your document is probably too long. We recommend you shorten the file name to 35 characters or less (one or two words) and try again.

General requirements for all supporting documents

4. EAS application deadline: 21 November

If you're a current Year 12 student, have your EAS application completed and documents uploaded by 21 November 2024. This will ensure it is considered in December Round 2 (23 December).

5. Finding out if you're eligible for EAS

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. We call this an 'eligibility letter'. 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 on 18 December. Non-Year 12 applicants will generally receive this email 10 working days after applying.