Program simplifies scholarship application process

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For more than a decade, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) has been working to help Aboriginal students achieve their educational goals through the Foundation for the Advancement of Aboriginal Youth (FAAY).

In that time, more than 1,000 students have received financial assistance from the many corporations that have turned to FAAY to help them manage their scholarship and bursary programs. This year, about 110 awards will be given out to Aboriginal students of all ages and from all parts of the country. Those awards will include both scholarships to help students in their post-secondary studies and bursaries given to high school students to encourage them to stay in high school.

Sky Bridges is vice-president of business development with the CCAB. He said that, although the program is called the Foundation for the Advancement of Aboriginal Youth, when it comes to awarding scholarships, FAAY utilizes a "very elastic definition of youth."

"We've sponsored, you know, single mothers who are in their forties who want to go back to better their lives through education. So it's a very large, encompassing program."

Applying for scholarships through FAAY simplifies the process for students, Bridges explained, because each student only has to complete one application to be considered for all the scholarships managed by FAAY.

Some students might be worried that their marks in high school weren't good enough for them to qualify for scholarships, but that just isn't the case.

"We are aware that sometimes the home situation is such that they haven't the energy or the ability to get high grades," Bridges said. "Our program is not based on just high scholastic achievements in high school; we take a balance of the need versus the marks that they received."

Even those students who don't receive scholarships can still benefit from the program, as some of the companies involved in FAAY will offer summer employment or co-op employment to applicants.

The program is benefiting the corporations that have signed on to FAAY by helping them link to the Aboriginal community. It also gives them a clearer picture of the challenges that exist for Aboriginal people wanting to further their education and of how important it is that companies get involved to help reduce those challenges, Bridges said.

"You know, outside of the Aboriginal communities, there's a mindset out there that if an Aboriginal person wants to go to school it'll automatically get paid for, and that's not the case."

Bridges has some simple advice for students to keep in mind when applying for scholarships and bursaries. The first thing you have to do is make sure you're providing all of the information the scholarship application asks for.

"Quite often, I don't know if people are lazy or they don't read things through, but they don't give us all the information that we're asking for. That's one thing I can't stress enough is reading the checklist. I would say about half of our applications are sent back because they weren't completely filled out properly."

You can also improve your chances of success by including some information about yourself, talking about your current situation and why you want to pursue your education.

"And maybe even a little bit about how this scholarship will allow them to go. I want to hear that without it maybe they can't, or what some of the difficult hurdles are," he said. You should also provide information about community activities you've been involved in.

Presentation is also important when completing your scholarship application. If the application calls for an essay that is no more than two pages long, provide two pages and don't try to cram in as much information as you can by decreasing the font size or using single-spacing, Bridges said. By doing that, you're not only making the submission difficult to read, you're providing much more information than is being asked for.

Once youve completed your application, there is still one more step to take. Get someone else to check it over for you.

"The editing is extremely important," Bridges said. "When you're sitting there writing it and you're the only one looking at it, it's good to get an outside impression on what it is you have written. So get somebody else to read it over and get that opinion."

For more information about FAAY or to download a scholarship application, visit the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business Web site at www.ccab.com.