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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - NWT university and college students got a big surprise last Thursday when they received an e-mail announcing they won't receive any scholarships from the territorial government for the upcoming school year.

Chris Buchanan stands on the hills of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, the province where he attends Dalhousie University to study law. - photo courtesy of Chris Buchanan

These scholarships, supplied by NWT Student Financial Assistance, range from $1,000 to $10,000 a year. Those who had the marks to get them are wondering how they will get by with the sudden loss of funding.

The approximate cost to the government for the scholarships is $400,000 a year.

"Our department had to make reductions in order to meet the budget, and the $400,000 was our reduction," said Gloria Iatridis, deputy minister of advanced education and careers with Education, Culture and Employment.

Yellowknife's Chris Buchanan is a student in his first year of law school at Dalhousie University. He was studying for his exams, which are next week, when he got the e-mail announcing cuts to the scholarships.

In order to get the $5,000 masters scholarship Buchanan needed to get at least a B-. So much for that motivation now.

"I read that the territorial government is spending $2.5 million to send people from the NWT to the Olympics, and our scholarship program which is a fraction of that, is being cut," said Buchanan.

"It's like the government is sending a message that education isn't a priority."

Buchanan has been receiving GNWT scholarships since graduating Sir John Franklin high school in 2000.

"I have two more years left in law school, and I would have been eligible for another two scholarships, each $5,000, providing I get the grades," said Buchanan.

"These cuts essentially leave me out of pocket $10,000 all of a sudden."

Iatridis said her department's budget was approved in March and students were notified shortly after that.

The time left for students to find the cash, though, is very short. Tuition for next year is due in about another five months, said Buchanan, and many students are going to have to try to get bank loans or find other scholarships. Unfortunately, he added, there are not many scholarships available that are based on getting good marks.

"For some people, they've budgeted for the money, and there's some people in doctorate programs who would receive $10,000 - and that's a pretty huge chunk of their budget if they were planning on getting it," said Buchanan.

Plans to cut scholarships were first brought to the attention of MLAs in November.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley said there are still many scholarship options available to students in the NWT.

"There are a number of scholarships now that are available from aboriginal organizations and industry that can fill in for a lot of money," said Bromley.

Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro was quick to point out NWT Student Financial Assistance is one of the most generous programs in the country.

"You have to keep in mind that our SFA program is one of the grandest in the country. Students get large remissible loans that they can pay back pretty easily working here," said Bisaro.

Last Friday, the day after he received the GNWT's e-mail, Buchanan started a Facebook group called "Bring Back Our NWTSFA Scholarships!" More than 90 people have since joined that group.

Despite being swamped with exams, Buchanan said he intends to keep fighting against the cuts and encourages concerned citizens to write to their MLAs, even though the decision has already been made.