Coronavirus: school leavers affected by virus lockdown receive assistance to win a place at university

Year 12 students whose parents ­receive JobKeeper or JobSeeker for at least three months will be awarded extra ATAR points.

Australian National University higher education analyst Andrew Norton says there is merit in giving students from poor backgrounds an extra chance to gain a place at university. Picture: Aaron Francis

School leavers whose parents ­receive the JobKeeper or JobSeeker benefit for at least three months will get extra ATAR points at many universities for courses starting next year.

The Universities Admission Centre, which gives entry to universities in NSW and the ACT, as well as some in other states, will allow Year 12 students to join its educational access scheme, which either awards extra ATAR points or a reserved place to students who suffer disadvantages.

The ATAR bonus is not the only benefit being offered by universities to students who have the misfortune to be in year 12 this year — the class of COVID — who have had to study at home for two months as well as deal with the anxiety of the pandemic and the possible financial hardship.

Some universities will admit students in 2021 on the basis of their Year 11 results, or on the recommendation of their school.

UAC general manager for marketing and engagement Kim Paino said it was “fair and reasonable” for universities to add JobKeeper and JobSeeker to the many types of financial disadvantage for which they offered entry assistance.

Australian National University higher education analyst Andrew Norton agreed there was merit in giving students from poor backgrounds an extra chance to gain a place at university.

He supported using JobSeeker — a benefit for unemployed people affected by the pandemic — as an indicator of family disadvantage, as it is similar to the other welfare benefit criteria UAC uses to decide if a family is ­financially disadvantaged.

However, he warned that the JobKeeper benefit was a “much less reliable proxy” then JobSeeker for financial disadvantage.

“By definition, a JobKeeper ­recipient has not yet lost their job, and they may not have lost any ­income,” he said. “JobKeeper is probably not going to correlate strongly with the low cultural capital that affects educational outcomes from the first day of school.”

Professor Norton said it was understandable why the UAC would decide to use JobKeeper and JobSeeker as identifiers of disadvantage.

“UAC is going to be swamped with special consideration claims, and so I can understand why they want criteria which can be ­efficiently docu­mented,” he said.

Ms Paino also said that universities had to think of the practical side, such as: “Can this disadvantage be proved and verified by a ­reliable third party?”

The UAC encourages students to apply for the educational access scheme if they believe they are eligible, but the centre is not able to tell them what ATAR bonus they could receive. That information is not made public for fear people might try to game the system.

However, Ms Paino said that before finalising their course preferences, students would be informed whether they were eligible for an ATAR boost and from which universities.

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre may be considering a similar move.

“We are reviewing our policy in terms of making sure we can ­appropriately address the educational disadvantage that COVID-19 has resulted in. We are a few weeks away from having something firm,” a VTAC spokeswoman said.

Others are not making any new arrangements, arguing that existing provisions are adequate. A spokesman for the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre said students disadvantaged by the coronavirus would be considered under its financial disadvantage provisions, as would those affected by the bushfires and flooding.

The South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre said Year 12s could apply for adjustments under its equity scheme if they or their parents had received a means-tested income support payment.