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No funding for upgrading Nicole Veerman Northern News Services Published Wednesday, August 17, 2011
"The Nunavut government is limiting education to our young," said the student's mother who asked not be identified. "They're only supporting education to a certain degree." The 18-year-old student is enrolled in the Engineering Access Program at the University of Manitoba. The program is designed to assist aboriginal students pursuing an engineering degree by providing academic, personal, social and limited financial assistance. Part of that includes upgrading courses in pre-calculus, math, physics, chemistry and computer programming. To help with living expenses in Winnipeg, the student applied for Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students (FANS). His first semester of classes starts next month. According to an e-mail from FANS to the student's mother, his funding was rejected because of his course load, which doesn't include enough credit courses. Following the rejection, Diana Klassen Laurie, an undergraduate co-ordinator at the University of Manitoba, wrote a letter to FANS explaining that 90 per cent of first year students entering the access program take the upgrading route and the school considers it a full course load. "These courses are crucial so that students can meet necessary prerequisites for engineering courses, especially since aboriginal students are lacking the necessary prerequisite courses, or their final grades are too low for success in engineering," she wrote. Despite the need for most of Nunavut's students to upgrade, FANS only gives funding to students who are enrolled in a full course load - defined as 60 per cent of what a full course load is at the institution being attended. Mary Pameolik, supervisor for FANS, said that 60 per cent has to be comprised of credit courses, not upgrading courses. "They have to be post-secondary credit courses," she said, noting that students can reapply for funding when they have completed their upgrading. The mother of the rejected student said this is unacceptable. "The Government of Nunavut's mandate is to support education. "They're not promoting what they mandated. "It's Nunavut that's holding people back now. We're just teaching the very basics," she said noting that her son wouldn't have to upgrade if the education system was up to par. Despite the rejection, her son will still be attending school this fall with funding from Kivalliq Partners in Development. If the KPD funding hadn't come through, he wouldn't have been able to go. "We wouldn't be able to afford that," his mother said, noting that she and her husband have done everything in their power to ensure their son is able to continue his education. "We're supporting him in every way and anyway we can. "He has his heart set on this."
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