Career Centre (Awards & Scholarship Info)

Awards and Scholarship information
There are many scholarships available in Canada, and you may be pleasantly surprised by what is available.  For some students, scholarships are simply an “added bonus” for their university studies, but for other students and families, the funds can be the difference between continuing to university or leaving school for financial reasons. Being informed about what is available to you and how to apply can make a big difference for your post secondary studies.

Scholarship truths
While grades and extracurricular activities are the basis for many scholarships decisions, there are numerous scholarship types that cater to a wide spectrum of students. For example, some scholarships are “regional” (applicants need to originate from a particular town or area) while others can be more select and designated for a specific applicant (someone with a disability or a certain cultural background).

Fact-finding
Who offers scholarships? Everyone from schools, companies and charities to governments or private individuals. Your starting point in a search for scholarships should begin at home with your parents. Ask whether the company or organization (even unions) in which your parents work offer any scholarships. Most companies that offer scholarships to employees or children of employees don’t advertise externally. Parents could check with the human resources department for any scholarship offerings.

Are you or any members of your family veterans or children of veterans? Veteran organizations give out a fair amount of scholarships. Maybe your parents belong to a lodge or a club that has a scholarship for members or children of members. You could also inquire whether your church, sports, service group or club has any special scholarships available.

Do I always need to apply?
Most scholarships require an application, but some are designed to be an automatic consideration, with no application necessary. A number of universities across the country, for example, provide automatic entrance scholarships for students with high school averages above 80 percent, and the amount available is often calculated on a sliding scale depending on your marks.

Know yourself
When applying for scholarships, it’s important to know what you have in the way of strengths. The majority of scholarships are still based on grades, but some administrators are starting to look for other attributes as well. To know what you can get from a scholarship, you have to first know what you have in the way of assets.

Do you:

• Participate in any extracurricular activities?
• Participate in school events?
• Get involved in sporting events?
• Help out in your community?
• Volunteer anywhere?

Have you ever:

• Been in a school performance?
• Run for student council?
• Been on an exchange program?

Anything that differentiates you from the other students applying for scholarships is important. Try sitting down with your family and brainstorm to develop a list. Something that seems routine to you might be extraordinary to someone else.

Following are some of the various scholarships that may be available to students at MRSS.  Please review these carefully and if you have any questions, please see Mrs. D’Andrea, Mr. Page or Mrs. Huber.

District Scholarships
Each year, the Ministry of Education allocates each school district scholarships for one percent of its students enrolled in Grade 12 on Sept. 30. A District Scholarship consists of a $500 cheque and a $500 scholarship voucher.

District scholarship vouchers may only be redeemed by enrolling in a full-time program at a ministry-approved post-secondary institution or apprenticeship program.

Passport to Education
The Passport to Education award was created by the Ministry of Education in 1988 in order to:

• recognize and reward student achievement in grades 10 to 12
• motivate students to study consistently during the years leading to graduation
• encourage secondary school students to pursue further education through post-secondary institutions and job-training programs.

The award takes the form of stamps for each of grades 10–12 with a dollar value that can be applied directly to post-secondary tuition fees. When a student earns a stamp, the school puts the stamp into a passport booklet that is given to the student upon graduation or when the student leaves the school.

For more information on the Passport to Education and how to use it, refer to: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/awards/

Secondary School Apprenticeship Scholarship
The Secondary School Apprenticeship Scholarship is an award for sustained effort as an apprentice, which includes graduating and continuing in the apprenticeship. The $1,000 scholarship is meant to assist the apprentice with tuition or the purchase of tools, equipment or materials needed to practice the trade.

Eligibility
To be eligible for a Secondary School Apprenticeship Scholarship, a student must:

• be a registered secondary school apprentice with a trades worker ID
• successfully complete 480 hours of paid workplace-based training in the trade area
• maintain a C+ average on Grade 12 numbered courses
  have graduated from high school
• submit a scholarship application form and high school transcript
  complete full-time apprenticeship training for six months after graduation.

To be awarded the Secondary School Apprenticeship Scholarship, a student must:

• be confirmed by the Industry Training Branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education  to still be in apprentice work six months after graduation.

Scholarships are awarded to all students who meet the eligibility and awarding requirements.

Applying
To apply for a Secondary School Apprenticeship Scholarship, the student must fill out the application form – available online at
www.aved.gov.bc.ca/industrytraining/ 

Additional Scholarship & Financial Aid Resources

www.bcawardsonline.org
BC Awards Online includes awards for Grade 12 students from governments, post-secondary institutions, private industry, and non-profit organizations and is searchable by school district, career area, keyword, or deadline date.

BC Awards Online offers BC students hundreds of award opportunities through an easily accessible online format.

www.studentsawards.com

www.ScholarshipsCanada.com
A comprehensive scholarship portal and provides a large searchable database of scholarships with well over 60,000 individual awards

www.studentawards.com is another free scholarship search service devoted to helping students locate financial assistance.

www.aucc.ca/scholarships
The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada delivers more than 3,500 scholarships each year to young people interested in pursuing higher education. AUCC also manages more than 175 scholarships and over $11 million in student awards which are available both for the general public and dependents of employees of certain organizations.

www.canlearn.ca
For information on government student loans such as the Canada Study Grants, and the Canadian Millennium Scholarships and other financial assistance tools and information.