The 22-year-old was awarded an unadvertised and very rare $60,636 scholarship to the Whitehouse Institute of Design, chaired by Liberal Party donor and Abbott friend, Les Taylor, in 2011.

The substantial award meant the PM's middle daughter was required to pay just $7546 towards her three-year bachelor's degree in design from which she graduated with distinction in February.

Four days after the revelations emerged, the Surry Hills college is yet to shed light on the secretive scholarship system. Despite the award being known as the Chairman's Scholarship, Mr Taylor, chairman of Whitehouse's board of governors, said he did not know how scholars were selected. ''I'm a semi-retired lawyer, I wouldn't know what criteria you go through to make an assessment of somebody,'' he said on Friday.

Fairfax Media repeatedly contacted Whitehouse chief executive and spokesman Ian Tudor, who is in Jakarta, for comment. Mr Tudor did not respond to detailed questions but released a statement on Wednesday confirming ''that Whitehouse has given scholarships for at least 10 years'' and that Ms Abbott's scholarship was the Chairman's Scholarship, which is awarded occasionally.

''Frances was the second recipient. I understand that the selection of Frances was done at arm's length from the chairman by the owner, founder and managing director of the institute, Leanne Whitehouse,'' Mr Tudor said.

Mr Taylor denied that the undergraduate scholarship had any political ties. ''Of course, it's not linked to a favour to Tony Abbott,'' he said. ''I don't owe Tony Abbott any favours.''

The former Commonwealth Bank general counsel this week conceded that he ''probably'' commended Ms Abbott. ''I probably did say to someone at Whitehouse, 'Frances is a nice girl or something, good family, works hard, I reckon she'd do well'.''

Mr Abbott has denied having any influence over the college and its awards and on Friday at a news conference in Campbelltown he dismissed questions over the scholarship as ''a bit of dirt digging''. He did not publicly disclose the scholarship as it was merit based, rather than a gift, and he has repeatedly underlined his daughter's academic ability.

However, documents obtained by news website New Matilda show that Ms Abbott was pursued for the award. She was contacted four times by the college before finally meeting founder Leanne Whitehouse on February 18, 2011, when she was offered the Chairman's Scholarship.

New information obtained by the news site indicates that Ms Abbott is to begin a master's degree in design at the college this year, a new course that was formally accredited in January, just weeks after the PM was reportedly publicly chided about the costs of accreditation at a function on the college's Surry Hills campus. New Matilda claims to have information that suggests Ms Abbott's fees for the master's degree have been waived.

A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott said he had no private conversations with TEQSA, the tertiary education government agency, and made no inquiries or representations on behalf of the college to secure accreditation. TEQSA has confirmed that Whitehouse went through two levels of assessment to gain accreditation for its new master's course. Materials lodged as part of the college's application to the agency feature a case study of Frances Abbott.

Ms Abbott is working as a teacher's aide at Whitehouse's Melbourne campus where she intends to continue her studies, the PM's office confirmed. ''As the course has not commenced, she is yet to enrol,'' the spokeswoman said.

Former Whitehouse faculty member Monique Rappell said she tried to get a scholarship for a very good student who had run out of funding and ''I couldn't get it even though she was the top student in her degree course''.

A classmate of Ms Abbott said she and other students were not aware of an academic award covering the course cost.