The Sydney student who leaked information about a fashion school scholarship controversially awarded to the daughter of Prime Minister Tony Abbott sincerely believed she was acting in the public interest and was unaware she was breaking the law.

Freya Rachael Sommerville Newman, 21, used her position as a part-time librarian at the Whitehouse Institute of Design to access information about the $60,000 director's scholarship awarded to Frances Abbott in 2011.

Ms Newman pleaded guilty last month to accessing restricted data. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years' jail.

At a sentencing hearing in the Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday, Ms Newman's barrister, Tony Payne, SC, asked magistrate Teresa O'Sullivan to place the university student on a bond and not record a conviction due to the "significant extra-curial punishment" she had suffered since becoming a "whistleblower".