Help to bridge a big city-country divide

But a national foundation is working to change that - and you can help.

Lace up your favourite boots, make a donation or organise an event this Friday, March 15, for Boot Bash.

Then post your photos on social media to help the Country Education Foundation of Australia (CEF) in its efforts to address the participation gap that exists for country youth post-school.

CEF principal partner, AuctionPlus, is also hosting an inaugural charity auction, beginning today and concluding on Friday, to raise funds for the CEF's grants program, which last year provided $2.2 million to 679 young Australians, to help address their tertiary education and living costs.

The online auction includes 26 lots, from artwork to country holidays and a Polaris Ranger SP 530 side-by-side vehicle.

While the events have an eastern States focus, the CEF hopes they will help raise awareness of the foundation, particularly in Western Australia, and encourage more local communities to get involved.

Money raised will be used to "top up" this year's grant recipients to help them overcome the financial barriers to education imposed by the disparity in the cost of living in the country.

CEF alumnus Chelsea Stevenson, from Gwydir in New South Wales, is in her final year of an agriculture degree at the University of New England.

After being awarded a grant from CEF Gwydir region in her first year of study in 2021, she received further support as the MH Premium Farms CEF scholar in 2021, which provided her with extra funding for each year of her studies, capped at four years.

Ms Stevenson said she regularly travelled nearly 50 kilometres on a round trip from home to the nearest library to complete assignments due to poor internet connectivity, or two hours' one way to get to university.

The distance was daunting, as was the huge rise in petrol costs over the years

"With CEF helping me to cover some of the costs, I feel as though there is one less weight upon my shoulders, and completing my degree actually feels possible," Ms Stevenson said.

CEF chief executive officer Wendy Mason said plenty of regional youth shared Ms Stevenson's circumstances - with significant potential long-term consequences.

She said a recent review by the tertiary sector found about a third of people living in a major city have a bachelor degree or higher, compared with 19pc in inner regional areas, 17pc in outer regional areas and 16pc in remote and regional locations.

"The participation gap is real,'' Ms Mason said.

"Geographic remoteness causes a discrepancy between young people.

"Our Boot Bash campaign aims to build awareness of the post-school education participation gap that exists between regional and metropolitan youth and raise additional funds for every CEF-supported student in 2024, which is particularly important in the face of the rising cost-of-living."

CEF, which started in Boorowa, NSW, in 1993, has grown to establish 36 local foundations in NSW, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.

Local foundations were run by a small committee of five to 10 volunteers, who fund raise and select the candidates who will receive financial support in their area.

"They supply the funding to them and also provide understanding and support for that young person, to get behind them and help them take that next step in their development into further education or a career,'' Ms Mason said.

Participants are also supported by the national foundation - via mentors and a buddy system - and the national foundation was responsible for handling the associated insurance, legal and compliance requirements.

Ms Mason said CEF was actively working to extend its activities into WA, and encouraged local communities and "change-making" individuals to be "willing to put their hands up'' to help it build a presence in the State.

"Our ability to get our message out in WA is important and I would love to hear from anyone who would like to do that in their part of the world,'' she said.

Ms Mason said local communities would also benefit in the long-term, as about three-quarters of CEF recipients said they wanted to return to a regional community after their tertiary education.

A third of last year's cohort were in a health or health-related disciplines, which they chose because they knew there were huge gaps in the provision of these services in their communities.

Ms Mason said the scheme was grants-based, which meant participants were reimbursed for related spending, and the funding was not included in Centrelink assessments.

While the financial needs of each recipient varied, of last year's participants, 79pc had to leave home to access education or employment.

Ms Mason said 37pc relied on CEF funding to cover cost of living expenses, only one in five received financial support from their families and less than one in two received government financial support.

"Young people are already disproportionately feeling the cost of living pressures, particularly if they are needing to move away,'' she said.

"Leaving home is already potentially very difficult, as they often need to set themselves up in a big city.

"The foundation aims to help young people transition well.''