Student Awards Policy

Ref. No.	Executive sponsor	Policy steward	Approval authority	First approved	Last reviewed	Effective date	Next review
28.01	Vice President, Campus and Communities	Director, Student Awards and Experience	Executive Council	Sept. 1, 2018	Jul. 2024	Aug. 1, 2024	Aug. 2029

Purpose
1. NSCC’s Student Awards policy reflects and represents the College’s commitment to assisting students in the pursuit of learning by providing financial support to reduce barriers and promote access to education. Student awards exist to supplement, not replace, funds available to students through government student loans and grants, work, savings, assets, and family resources/income.
2. The purpose of this policy is to provide equitable and transparent standards and processes in establishing awards and in determining who will receive them.
3. Stewardship and implementation of the Student Awards Policy is the responsibility of the Director, Student Awards & Experience in partnership with the NSCC Foundation.

Scope
1. This policy applies to students of, or applicants to, the College.
2. NSCC employees (full-time, part time, casual and those on leave) also studying at the college, are not included in the general awards program, and are therefore ineligible for donor sponsored scholarships, awards and bursaries. NSCC students employed in casual student positions within the college, are not considered employees for the purposes of this policy.
3. This policy applies to all student awards that are funded by NSCC, and through the NSCC Foundation. This policy does not extend to any external awards which may be promoted and/or otherwise supported through the application process by the NSCC Student Awards office.

Definitions

Term	Definition
Award	Refers generically to any type of financial award that is given to students by the College. Awards may be one-time only or renewable with the student's continued compliance with the award criteria.
Award Posting	The publicly shared details of the award by the Student Awards office, either online or in print.
Bursary	A student award given based on demonstrated financial need.
Conditional	Refers to the state in which all awards are offered until award requirements are fulfilled. These requirements may include the submission of transcripts, social insurance number, and donor recognition pieces.
Entrance Award	A student award given according to criteria, including merit, demonstrated by the student prior to commencing a program at the College.
Exit Award	A student award given according to criteria demonstrated by the student prior to competing a program at the College.
External Award	An award given to a student at the College by an external agency. Normally the College's role or responsibility is only to advise the existence of the award to students, however, in some cases, acceptance/pre-screening of applications is done by the Student Awards office and/or records of award recipients may be maintained.
Financial Need	The difference between the costs to attend College and the income or resources to support the cost.
Gift Agreement	An established, signed agreement between award donor(s) and the NSCC Foundation that outlines the intentions of the award including eligibility, assessment, and application criteria.
Good Academic Standing	A student status indicating no academic restrictions.
Merit-based	Refers to any student award that is given based on academic or other merits which may include but is not limited to leadership, community involvement, and extra-curricular involvement.
Minimum Passing Grade	The academic requirement that must be met in each course in order to obtain and/or retain a student award.
Needs-based	A student award that prioritizes financial need.
NSCC Foundation	A registered charity and the philanthropic arm of Nova Scotia Community College.
Renewable Award	A student award that is contingent on maintaining good academic standing, a minimum passing grade, and/or a specified academic average. This award is distributed by term and may be renewable in subsequent year(s) of study.
Scholarship	A student award given on the basis of academic merit.
Student Awards Office	The NSCC department that administers student awards and financial aid programs on behalf of the College.

Policy
1. Award Creation
  1. The College approves and offers awards that:
    1. Are consistent with Human Rights legislation.
    2. Are consistent with College policies and procedures.
    3. Have assessment criteria that can be evaluated through an awards application and/or College records.
    4. Are developed and endorsed by the NSCC Foundation.
  2. The Student Awards office, as well as the NSCC Foundation reserves the right to withhold or refuse student awards donated by individuals or organizations where the above criteria are not met.
2. Award Application
  1. Each posted award will have a title, description, eligibility criteria, value, and a determinate number of awards to be disbursed as per donor gift agreement or Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
  2. Students must meet all stated award eligibility criteria as of the date the award is selected. For most awards, students must have paid their tuition deposit for their program, or be a returning student, to be eligible to apply.
  3. Awards with eligibility criteria requiring demonstrated financial need shall be determined using the NSCC financial needs assessment application which considers total resources, tuition/fees, related program costs as well as living and other expenses.
  4. In general, student awards are open to all students including international students and students who are studying online, unless otherwise stated in the award criteria. However, confirmed international applicants entering the college are not eligible to apply for any award in which financial need is a component of assessment.
  5. The Student Awards office reserves the right to modify or amend award applications to reflect any other funding, as indicated within the student’s financial record, that has not already been disclosed in their financial needs assessment application. This includes tuition waivers for dependent children of college employees, sponsorships, student loans, etc.
  6. The Student Awards office makes every effort to ensure that funds are broadly distributed to support the College’s commitment to access. Therefore, no single student shall receive more than $10,000 in NSCC Foundation sponsored awards in any given academic year, except for those students who may meet requirements for awards with restrictive criteria or those students selected for other forms of financial assistance (e.g. sponsor a student program funding, cost of living bursaries, college/job readiness funding, urgent aid) offered at NSCC. This may be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
  7. References required to support student award applications must be submitted according to the instructions outlined in the award posting. References completed by family, friends, or peers will not be accepted. The Student Awards office reserves the right to contact references for validation and for additional information when necessary.
  8. All student award applicants must agree to the terms and conditions of the NSCC awards application to be considered for awards. The terms and conditions outline how an applicant’s information will be used, their responsibilities to ensure the application is successfully submitted, and the general award acceptance requirements should they be selected.
  9. There is no appeal process for student awards. All decisions made during the selection process, including the choice of award recipient, are final.
  10. The Student Awards office reserves the right to extend award deadlines at any time, in consultation with the NSCC Foundation.
3. Award Selection
  1. If the number of eligible applicants is less than the number of awards available for any given award, the Student Awards office reserves the right to take one or more of the following actions, in communication with the NSCC Foundation:
    1. Extend the deadline in order to increase the applicant pool.
    2. Award to those who are eligible and offer the remaining awards in the following award offering or academic year.
    3. Recommend that the award criteria and/or application requirements be adjusted to widen the prospective applicant pool.
    4. Not grant an award in the absence of a suitable candidate, or limit the number of awards where too few suitable candidate exist.
  2. The selection process for awards varies based on the respective evaluation type:
    1. Academic merit - awards including academic assessment criteria are mathematical in nature and therefore, evaluations are conducted through the review and assessment of transcripts by the Student Awards office.
    2. Mixed criteria - can include assessment in the areas of leadership, community involvement, career dedication or another combination thereof.
      1. Due to the qualitative nature, mixed criteria awards are evaluated by committee. All evaluation committee members must be current NSCC employees, donor appointed community representatives, or NSCC Alumni and must not have any existing relationships with the award applicants they are assigned to review.
      2. Selection committees are responsible for ensuring and maintaining confidentiality and transparency of the candidate consideration process. Conflicts of interest must be declared to the Student Awards office.
      3. To avoid conflicts of interest, donors are not permitted to participate in the evaluation of recipients for awards, except in the case of those awards offered through the sponsor-a-student program.
    3. Financial need - awards including financial need criteria are mathematical in nature and therefore, evaluations are determined through a demonstration of unmet need as determined by the Student Awards office.
    4. Sponsor-a-student - this program combines student financial support with on-the-job training and/or employment. Donors of this program do not receive a charitable tax receipt. In these cases, the Student Awards office confirms that eligibility requirements for the award have been met by applicants. However, evaluation, assessment and selection of applicants is completed by the employer.
  3. All award recipient selections are reviewed and finalized by the Student Awards office.
  4. Students selected as recipients for awards will receive a detailed letter of offer through NSCC’s student awards portal containing all pertinent award information such as:
    1. Award name
    2. Amount of first installment of the award
    3. Overview of disbursement process
    4. Award acceptance requirements including social insurance number reporting
    5. Other instructions specific to the award, should there be any
  5. Students are required to accept or decline all award offers through the student awards portal. If the requirements are not met by the stated deadline the offer shall be revoked.
4. Award Distribution/Payment
  1. Students in receipt of student awards who defer studies to another year shall not be permitted to defer awards, unless otherwise stated in their student award letter of offer. Exceptions may only be made for official medical deferrals or mandated supportive leaves. These will be managed on a case-by-case basis and approval must be granted by the respective donor. Medical documentation is required.
  2. At any time, awards may be revoked at the discretion of the Student Awards office for reasons including, but not limited to, non-compliance with final requirements, changes to student program of study or course load, withdrawal from studies at NSCC, etc.
  3. All student awards shall be applied directly to the award recipient’s student account and will be applied towards educational expenses such as tuition, fees, program costs and general cost of living expenses, if applicable. This does not include exit awards, cost of living bursaries or urgent aid funds, which are payable directly to the student once all awards conditions have been met.
  4. Recipients who have paid their student account in full in the academic term for which the student award credit has been applied, and who are carrying an overpayment on their student account because of receiving an award, may choose one of the following payment options:
    1. Recipients may retain the credit on their student account to be applied against future account charges; or
    2. Recipients may request a refund from the campus Business Office.
  5. Student awards are contingent upon the recipient continuing their studies and are payable only if the recipient is active and enrolled at NSCC. If a student award recipient withdraws from NSCC, the student award remains with NSCC and is not eligible for refund to the recipient. Recipients may be required to return any/all funding provided through the NSCC Foundation.
  6. Approval of the second or subsequent portions of a student award (if any) will be conditional upon the recipient’s meeting stated renewal criteria. Recipients who do not meet the renewal criteria will forfeit the remaining portions of their student award.
  7. Recipients of renewable awards may not transfer awards to another program of study without the express written permission of the Student Awards office.
  8. Student awards can come in the form of a tuition fee waiver. These awards cannot be applied to any other mandatory fees associated with the program and have no cash value. No refunds will be issued for tuition fee waivers.
  9. Award recipients will be issued appropriate T4A tax receipts for all student awards, grants or scholarships received of $500 or more.

Policy Supports

28.02 Student Awards Administration Procedures (login required)