BCSAP Grants?

[Guest Jazz]

I am new at this so please excuse my ignorance, I am a little confused as to under which category BC med students are considered for loans. The school emailed us and asks us to list "bachelor" as our program level, so will we be eligible for government grants or are we considered "professional" students? I have received my BCSAP assessment but it does not mention anything about grants. Thanks for your help.

[Guest Ollie]

I think that grants have been eliminated for students who are in the first year of a program. We'll only get grants next year. I put "professional" instead of "bachelors". Hope that doesn't make a difference.

 

Edit: I just looked on the website. Indeed students in the first year of a program are not eligible for grants. And only undergraduate students are eligible, so I guess next year I will be sure to cross off the bachelor's box, instead of professional.

[Guest lex]

Unfortunately for us, as of this year, the BC Student Grant program has been eliminated. The money is being redirected to fund the additional post-secondary seats slated for BC through 2010.

 

See below for details:

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"February 17, 2004

The Minister of Finance has presented this year's budget in the Legislature. In it, he announced that the BC Grant Program will not be available for students in programs starting on or after August 1, 2004.

 

For more information on the BC Budget, see http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/

 

Q What is the impact on current funding (2003/04 Program Year)?

A None. This decision will eliminate BC Grants in the 2004/05 program year, beginning August 1, 2004, and will not affect students in programs beginning prior to August 1, 2004.

 

Q What will be the impact on funding next year (2004/05 Program Year)?

A Any student applying for assistance in programs beginning on or after August 1, 2004, who would have qualified for a grant, will now receive the equivalent amount of funding in the form of a student loan.

 

Q Will CMS grants still be available in 2004/05?

A Yes. Discussions between Ministry staff and officials at the Canadian Millennium Scholarship foundation are under way to find an effective and equitable method of distributing BC's allotment of the CMS grant fund.

 

Q Will Canada Study Grant, Assistance Program for Students with a Permanent Disability, High-Need Part-Time Grant Program, and other BC and CSLP grant programs still be available?

A The only grant being eliminated is the BC Grant program, issued as part of the up-front assistance award, in conjunction with BC student loans."

 

source: http://www.aved.gov.bc.ca/studentservices/news/

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As far as I know, there are still grants available for those with disabilities, dependents, and female doctoral students.

 

Ollie - were you referring to the CMS Bursary? If so, do you know if there is a limit to the number of years of study that you can have under your belt? The do list medicine (if considered undergrad in your province of attendance) on the site.

 

Edit: The following is from the Millenium Foundation website's section for BC:

 

To be eligible for the CMS Grant, a student must have: successfully completed a minimum of 34 weeks (eight months) of previous post-secondary study in the last ten years and not have completed more than 136 weeks of previous post-secondary study.

 

So it seems that those with existing 4yr undergrad degrees don't qualify in BC. Seems somewhat unfair to exclude those with over 136 weeks of previous coursework if they're going into law or medicine. I'm going to call about this though and will post if I find anything of interest.

[Guest Ollie]

Hi Lex,

 

The elimination of the BC grants sucks! Yes I was referring to the CMS grants. I just looked through the information guide on the BCSAP website. It just said that you needed to be in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year of an undergraduate program. It didn't say anything about a max # of years of eligibility.

[Guest lex]

Hey Ollie, I just editted my above post. Disappointing.

[Guest Ollie]

Wow that doubly sucks. So that means that we don't get any grants at all? They should really make the limitation that you can only get the grant for a certain number of years. So a person who got CMS throughout undergrad couldn't get it now, but someone like myself who didn't get a CMS ever, should be able to get it now.

 

I looked at the Ontario requirements, and there doesn't seem to be a limitation on the number of years in school. Since I am going to school in Ontario (but I'm a BC resident) I wonder if next year I can apply for OSAP instead?

[Guest lex]

No kidding. As far as I know, you have to apply in your own province (the Ontario government probably doesn't want to loan money to people who pay taxes in other provinces). It'd be worthwhile checking with the millenium foundation to see if there is any way that you can get around this though.

 

I agree that there should be a limit based on use. I went to school in the US and was therefore unable to apply. Now, that I'm back in Canada, I'm ineligible because I previously studied in a country that made me ineligible in the first place. Frustrating.