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The Impact Of COVID-19 Emergency Bursaries On Our Learners
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bow Valley College saw an increase in the requests for financial support from our learners. As a result, in early March, we created the COVID-19 Response Emergency Financial Need Bursary Fund, thanks to support from the Students’ Association at Bow Valley College.
This initial support helped us leverage additional generous contributions from donors and local foundations to provide emergency bursaries to students who were in financial need. Thanks to this support, Bow Valley College is helping reduce the burden on our students so that they can continue to focus on online learning and pay for basic needs.
We want to highlight the trailblazing support we have received from United Way Calgary and Area, Nickle Family Foundation, Banff Canmore Community Foundation, the Students' Association of Bow Valley College (SABVC), and our many generous donors.
So far, we have provided $35,000 in COVID-19 emergency bursaries to over 100 vulnerable learners. This includes Indigenous learners, newcomers, and regional learners, single parents, learners living on a low income, and other groups experiencing higher financial support needs due to the pandemic.
The impact of these bursaries has gone far beyond supporting our learners in pursuing their education. It has also given them the opportunity to give back to our local communities as nurses, early childhood educators, social workers, and volunteers.
On behalf of our learners, their loved ones, and their communities, we thank you for your support. With your help, we can continue to provide much needed financial support in the coming months to help our learners complete their program of study.
Gabriela Pino
Development Officer, Major Gifts
gpino@bowvalleycollege.ca
