Scholarships support students

Many local students have to relocate for university, often to Melbourne, with the initial costs falling to parents and putting pressure on the students to quickly find part-time work in an unfamiliar environment.

Community Bank Elmore, Lockington and Rochester director Julianne Hand reflected on her experience supporting her children as they made the journey to university.

“As a parent who has already funded children going through university, this is a great initiative,” she said.

“The initial costs of getting them set up is just so expensive.

“We need more rural kids at uni.”

Executive officer and company secretary Lauren Ross said the scholarships aimed to ease this financial strain, covering the necessary relocation expenses.

“It takes the pressure off them,” she said.

“They can move to their new city, settle in (and) start study without having the rush of having to find part-time work.”

Recipient Nate Rasmussen is heading to La Trobe University to study a Bachelor of Education.

He is planning to put the $3000 scholarship towards paying off his HECS loan.

“It helps out ginormously,” he said.

“I’ll put it straight towards the HECS, so hopefully I’ll be HECS-free for a little while and have less debt to pay off.”

This is the third year of the program, with eight recipients in 2023, six in 2024 and nine in 2025.

Each year, the Community Bank team has found the applicants to be of such high quality that they have all received the grant.

Branch manager James Pietromonaco was delighted to support the students through the program.

“It’s a rewarding part of our job,” he said.

“I love seeing this sort of stuff. When you’re trying to get loans and things like that, you know where it’s going.”

The 2025 scholarship recipients are