Purpose:
The John Bosco Child and Family Services Foundation (Bosco Foundation) bursaries are offered to support students who during their high-school career have shown empathy and caring for people in their school, communities, provincially/nationally or abroad by volunteering to help those in need. The bursaries offered are to assist such students to pursue post-secondary studies at an accredited Canadian University, College or Technical Institute (or other approved post-secondary institution acceptable to the Bosco Foundation). This policy establishes the guidelines for the Bursary Committee to use in its deliberations.
Policy:
Students accepted by an accredited Canadian University, College or Technical Institute are eligible to apply for a bursary subject to proof of demonstrated volunteer activities and financial need. Priority is given to full-time students. Part-time or Casual students may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Bursaries are based on financial need (based on household income), current assets and essential expenses as stated by the applicant on the Bursary Application Form. Our priority is to select financial assistance to qualifying students who would otherwise be unable to attend post-secondary institutions without some financial assistants.
The Board of Directors establishes the amount of money available for distribution from the Bursaries Budget Line in any given year. Annually, during budget deliberations the amount will be reviewed.
For the 2019-2020 academic year, the Bursaries Budget is $ 30,000.00Any unused Bursary Funds not used in a particular academic year, will be rolled over into the following academic year to build up an emergency fund up to a maximum of $5,000.00 dollars. Thereafter, unexpended bursary dollars will be added to the following academic year’s bursaries pool and disbursed in the categories the committee deems appropriate.
After bursary recipient have been determined, students will be notified by mail. Bursary recipients will receive a T4A for reporting their taxable income by February 28, 2020. All bursaries are taxable and must be reported as income on the student’s tax return.
If a bursary recipient either withdraws from an approved program, or changes status from full time to part time, the bursary award will be prorated.
Deadline for bursary application is June 15, 2019 that must be received on or before this date. Financial need will be determined from the information provided by the students on the Bursary Application form for the Upcoming Academic Year.
The Bursary Committee reviews all bursary applications. Upon completion of the selection process, recipients will receive confirmation of their successful application. The Committee will keep the financial information shared by students confidential. Students will be encouraged to access any and all other sources of financial aid to keep financial stress at a minimum.
The Bosco Foundation’s Volunteer Bursary budget comes from the Foundation’s income and donations and is approved annually during the budget process.
Earmarked donations or bequests to the Bosco Foundation’s bursaries program be they from the public or private or public bodies, will be distributed according to the wishes of the donors.
Approved: August 14, 2018