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Province of New Brunswick to Match Contributions to Bursaries By Bob Edgett, BA '84 |
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In April 2001, the Report of the Working Group on Accessibility to Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick recommended that the provincial government “establish a fund to match monies institutions raise for need-based bursaries.” In response to the Working Group’s report, the provincial government undertook to disburse $1 M per year to match funds from the private sector to provide awards for post-secondary students in need. Under the terms of the New Brunswick Universities Opportunities Fund (NBUOF), the Province of New Brunswick will provide St. Thomas University and the other New Brunswick universities with matching contributions at a rate of $0.50 for every $1.00 of eligible private donations raised for bursaries for students in financial need. To take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity St. Thomas has created the NBUOF Bursaries. The bursaries, valued at $500.00 each, will be awarded annually to full-time or part-time students in an undergraduate or professional programme of study at St. Thomas University. Recipients must meet the New Brunswick residency status as defined by the provincial Student Financial Services guidelines and selection will be made on the basis of financial information provided by the Canada Student Loan Assessment or its equivalent. St. Thomas is proud of its student assistance programme and is pleased to have the Province of New Brunswick as a partner in these new awards. Our scholarship programme is the most generous in the region and last year, one in two entering students received an award, with over $1 million being awarded in total. On the bursary side, we also recognized that many students are in financial need and set up the Millennium Bursary Fund in January 2000. Over the last two years, over $400,000 has been raised creating an endowment that has funded 60 - $500 bursaries. With
the introduction of the NBUOF, contributors to the Annual Fund can have
their donations matched by designating their gifts to student assistance.
For more information on the NBUOF Bursaries contact Bob Edgett, Director
of University Advancement at 506-452-0512 or edgett@stu.ca |