bursaries - discussion topic

[bursary question]

For many bursaries/scholarships, including at med school, existing debt load is taken into consideration when evaluating financial need.

I chose a university close to home so I could live on the cheap with my parents, and worked part-time to avoid being in debt at graduation. Should I now be disadvantaged for bursaries because I worked hard and made sacrifices?

[bob]

you have less financial need, so you don't qualify for as much bursary. you should feel good about your sense of responsibility.

[Liana]

Yeah, sucks, doesn't it?

Makes you seriously question a system that gives you more free money the less you work. I realized in high school when I was denied an automatic UG entrance bursary that I would have been wiser to reward myself with a trip or a shopping spree, rather than stupidly saving all of my money.

[shkelo]

There was a new incentive student loan program that started in Alberta as of last year. In a nut shell, for a first-time, first-year loans applicant, total debt load is $5000 and anything above and beyond $5000 (up to $11,000) is non-repayable. For final year applicants, total debt load is reduced to $20,000 in a one-time completion payment. Who says going to school doesn't pay?

Check it out for yourself. www.learning.gov.ab.ca/co...amples.asp (http://www.learning.gov.ab.ca/college/Examples.asp) Gotta love Alberta!!

[Ian Wong]

Floating back to the top.

Ian