Types of Scholarships

TYPES OF SCHOLARSHIP AND BURSARIES:

  • A scholarship is a monetary award based on excellence in some area, whether academic achievement or athletics or service or the fine arts etc.

  • A bursary is a monetary award based on financial need . Often the bursary is also tied to a certain level of academic achievement or to some affiliation with the donor. Affiliation can be where you or your parents work, your place of worship, clubs or sports teams you belong to, ethnic background etc.

  • An entrance scholarship is one given to students by a college or university when they begin their studies. Some entrance scholarships are made automatically, based on your marks, while others may require an application. Generally the marks considered are for those grade 12 academic courses used for admission to the program. Remember that the more competitive a university is (ie the harder it is to get into), the higher the threshold is for entrance scholarships. The academic average needed (or GPA) will vary from year to year at any institution .


PROVINCE OF BC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

The province of BC offers four different types of scholarships:

  1. The BC Achievement Scholarship: No application is required. The province calculates the cumulative average of BC students and awards the top 8000 graduating students $1250 vouchers towards post-secondary tuition. In previous years, students needed an average of about 90% over all courses in grades 10 to 12 to be considered. Students will be able to check the student portal at the ministry to see if they have won by November of each year.

  2. District Awards: Each school district is given a number of these $1250 scholarships to award to students who excel in one of seven areas: Applied Skills, Community Service, Fine Arts, Indigenous Language and Culture, International Languages, Physical Activity, and Technical or Trades Education. Last year SD 62 was assigned 112 District Award vouchers to award (Royal Bay won 46). Our district's application form will be available in March with a deadline set for April sometime. For details on Royal Bay's application process for District Awards , see Scholarship Application Deadlines for March and April.

  3. *BC Excellence Scholarship: You must be nominated by Royal Bay in order to apply for this scholarship and only one student from each school may be nominated. Our nominee then applies to the province to be considered for one of the 55 Excellence Scholarship vouchers of $5000. The nomination form is available under the January tab. The successful nominee's application will be due at the Ministry of Education in February.

  4. *Pathway to Education Scholarship: This award is given to 20 outstanding BC high school graduates who have demonstrated a commitment and aptitude for a career path in K-12 teaching. Winners receive a $5000 scholarship voucher to redeem when they are registered and attending an approved K-12 teacher education program at a BC university education program. Applications are due in February.

*You cannot win both a BC Excellence and a Pathway to Education Scholarship, but you are welcome to apply to both.

For more information on all of these Province of BC scholarships - Click Here