Lakeland College is looking for the community’s help in supporting their students in need of financial assistance.
The post-secondary is participating in this year’s Great Canadian Giving Challenge, a national contest supported by Canada Helps. For every dollar donated to the student relief fund during June, one entry will be made into the challenge for a chance to win a grand prize of $20,000.
Lakeland Development Officer Stacey Ruller says the Support Our Students Bursary Fund will help support students who are worried about going back to school after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Many of these students aren’t able to get those summer jobs that they rely on to come back or start post-secondary. It is such a critical component right now and we’re seeing a need for students and their financial concerns are greater than ever.”
According to a survey by Statistics Canada, 67 per cent of students are worried about having no job prospects in the immediate future and 51 per cent believe they will have trouble paying for tuition this fall.
Ruller says any support will help ease the worries for students as each bursary comes in at $4,000 per student. She also says the bursary has already helped many students start or continue their education.
“Sometimes they’ve applied for a program and their funding has fallen through or they are not able to attend post-secondary without another funding source like this. The $4,000 is enabling them to attend post-secondary.”
Last year, 100 people applied for the bursary and 25 received it. The giving challenge is also acting as a replacement for the cancelled President’s Gala which is used as a fundraiser for the bursary.
This is the sixth year for the giving challenge and over 109,000 Canadians donated more than $14 million to over 12,000 charities last year.