Australian Indigenous Education Foundation scholars soar with high year 12 graduation rates

AIEF scholars are graduating from year 12 at higher rates and are more likely to start university compared with overall Indigenous population.

Jett Jarrett, Tyron McMahon and Lindsay Munro at their school, St Gregory's College in Sydney’s south west. Picture: Britta Campion

In the 27 days of school he has left, Lindsay Munro is taking in the “last moments” before he and his classmates go their separate ways.

The soon-to-be graduate Year 12 of St Gregory’s College in Sydney’s southwest said he was looking forward to taking a gap year and heading home to Moree, about an hour south of the Queensland border, after exams.

“I’m going to miss everything about boarding school,” the 17-year-old said. “Especially football and the boys.”

Lindsay, a college prefect, has been a boarder at the college since 2012 after accepting a scholarship from the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation.

He played several sports at the school, including as a member of the school rugby team. “I have always had a love for fitness and sport science,” he said. “Eventually I would like to go to uni and study physiotherapy.”

He will soon become one of 700 AIEF alumni to have completed Year 12 and started university degrees, at higher rates compared with the overall Indigenous population, a KPMG report has revealed.

The report showed students supported by an AIEF scholarship were 2.3 times more likely to complete Year 12 than the Indigenous population overall.

For the overall Indigenous population, 77 per cent progressed to Years 11 and 12 compared with 95 per cent who were supported by an AIEF scholarship. The report also showed the scholarship and pathway programs translated into value for money. With every dollar invested, $9.31 was generated over the working lifetime of the participants.

Since 2008, the foundation awarded scholarships to more than 1000 school students across Australia, 133 undergraduate students and five postgraduate students to help cover boarding school fees and some cost of living expenses at university.

Founder and executive director of the program Andrew Penfold said the report was “robust confirmation from independent experts” that the program was not only a worthy economic investment but a positive social one too.

“The program provides … a very significant return on investment that proves not only the outcomes for the students themselves but the value for money too,” he said.