$2005 awards to be spread among students from all provinces and territories

Postsecondary students from coast to coast will benefit from Alberta’s newest endowment fund, a $20 million initiative that will see the province provide $2005 scholarships to 325 students annually.

The Alberta Centennial Scholarship, announced by Premier Ralph Klein on Monday, will be distributed to students across Canada, with each province and territory nominating 25 recipients for the award. The scholarship, set to take effect in 2006, will be open to any student of a recognized postsecondary institution, be it a university, college, technical institute or apprenticeship program.

Alison Gates-Kriston, spokesperson for Alberta Advanced Education, explained that the scholarship, funded by the 2006/07 Alberta budget, was established with a one-time expenditure of $20 million and is expected to maintain or increase its value over time. It will be established within the Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, and the funds for the program will be generated from the interest of the endowment.

Students’ Union Vice-President (External) Samantha Power said the scholarship announcement was unexpected.

“It was surprising, because it dealt with the national unity aspect. And it’s also kind of surprising because [Klein] did make a lot of promises about postsecondary and making grand changes to the postsecondary system in Alberta. Using this as one of the follow-ups to that is kind of disconnected; it doesn’t really show the follow-through that we were hoping for,” she said.

Power went on to suggest that creating an affordable tuition policy, as was promised as part of the postsecondary review, in addition to providing base funding to universities in the province would have been more beneficial.

“If they had set up a $20 million endowment to go toward funding decreased tuition levels over the next few years, that would have been a larger plus for us. It would have helped students out a lot more than just random scholarships,” Power said.

The government has committed $1.3 billion of this year’s surplus to endowment funds, including $250 million more for the Heritage Scholarship Fund, $200 million more for the Heritage Medical Research Fund and $750 million in investment towards the Access to the Future Fund. Gates-Kriston explained that this new $20 million endowment is a separate initiative.

“It won’t have any impact on Alberta scholarships except that there will be an additional 25 scholarships available to Alberta students,” she said, adding that the new scholarship program and those already established are for the long-term.

“There’s no end to them. They’re sustainable, they’re fully funded and they’re secure and in place for Alberta students now and for future generations,” Gates-Kriston said.

University of Calgary Students’ Union President Bryan West was optimistic about the news.

“[Klein] is trying to show the rest of Canada that Alberta is not greedy, and prosperity in Alberta means prosperity for the rest of Canada,” West suggested.

West did admit that the move was “a bit bizarre,” but he said that in the big picture, $20 million is “just a drop in the bucket.” Alberta’s surplus this year is an astounding $8.7 billion, more than a billion dollars more than the entire budget of Saskatchewan.

Klein made the announcement in Ottawa during the first stop in his three-city tour to discuss the Alberta’s economy with the rest of the nation. Gates-Kriston explained that this initiative was just another part of Alberta’s centennial celebrations.

“The centennial year is winding up, so the Premier wanted to get the initiative launched before the centennial year was over, and being in Ottawa it was an appropriate time to announce the program to the rest of Canada,” she said.

One University of Lethbridge political science student, Luke Mather, was confused by the motives behind the announcement.

“He’s not trying to buy votes with it,” Mather said. He suggested that the Premier may be trying to “go out huge,” and leave a legacy behind when he leaves political office next year. [Source: gateway.ualberta.ca]

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 8:32 am and is filed under Online Education, Scholarship. Tags: Alberta, Alberta Centennial Scholarships, Alberta Heritage Scholarship Fund, Alison Gates-Kriston, Bryan West, Canada, College, Education News, Future Fund, Heritage Medical Research Fund, Luke Mather, Ottawa, Ralph Klein, Samantha Power, Saskatchewan, Scholarship, Student, Students’ Union, University of Calgary Students’ Union, University of Lethbridge, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.