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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Judging from the response, support for axing merit-based scholarships in the NWT doesn't go much further than the legislative assembly.

"I think cutting the scholarships may actually prevent some students from going to post-secondary school, which is unfortunate," said Metro Huculak, superintendent for Yk Education District No. 1.

"The scholarship allows more students to go to university or college, especially those who can't get a lot of parental support."

The superintendent was responding to an announcement last week by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment that its $400,000 scholarship program will not be available to university and college students this fall. The program offered students scholarships up to $10,000 a year if they got good grades.

Huculak said he has seen a lot of kids who have had to get jobs and burden themselves with loans in order to get an education, and he has hired people who've just finished their schooling and are deeply in debt.

"I know I've hired teachers in the past who've come out of university with $40,000 or $50,000 loans," he said.

Mara Smith grew up and went to school in Yellowknife, and is currently in her first year of medical school at the University of Western Ontario. She got the undergraduate scholarship from NWT Student Financial Assistance three out of her four undergraduate years.

Smith said grants and student loans don't fully cover her tuition, so the NWT scholarship was vital to help her make ends meet.

"It was good to be able to put that down on my CV or resume under the awards section," she said. "I definitely included them in all my med school applications. It looks good on a resume."

Laura MacKinnon, another Yellowknifer who is finishing up a degree in psychology at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., said the scholarships - which are awarded for academic excellence - helped her out, as she wasn't eligible for any others.

"You'd think they would scale down the scholarships and scale down the grants and loans, rather than just cut the scholarships," she said. She added students who are just scraping by still get grants and loans, but the scholarships are for those who are truly working hard and giving their all.

There are many scholarships available for NWT students, but only about three are given purely for academic merit - most are for specified fields of study or for aboriginal students.

Duff Spence, chairperson for the YK1 school board, said it's important to invest in the next generation.

"As a board we understand the departmental challenges of meeting budgets and we understand that difficult choices have to be made, but I think we saw the comment about (the money for) sending people to the Olympics and we would like a change in perspective - we need to invest in our youth."

Calls to the Catholic school board were not returned by deadline.