More grants for Métis students

Lethbridge College recently received a $500,000 gift from the Métis Education Foundation, which will be used to fund Métis Student Awards at the college. The money will ensure over $20,000 is given out annually through awards of $3,500 each and will start in the 2013-14 school year. “Lethbridge College offers a ‘circle of services’ to assist our FNMI learners to be successful in their journeys of pursuing a post-secondary education. This assistance includes providing the guidance of Blackfoot, Inuit and Métis Elders in residence,” said Dr. Paula Burns, Lethbridge College’s president and CEO, in a news release. “This donation will further increase accessibility to post-secondary education for students from under-represented populations and expand the Métis representation on our campus.” Lethbridge College has seen its FNMI student numbers grow steadily over the course of the last four years. In the fall of 2012 there were 319 FNMI students enrolled at the college, making up seven per cent of its overall student population and 63 of those students were Métis. With the funding to Lethbridge College, the total amount of endowments given through the Métis Education Foundation has grown to $14.5 million. As the interest earned on the principal value is disbursed annually as awards, these endowments are set up to support Métis students in perpetuity.