In 2001 the BC government ended the endowment-matching program, a funding service that matched private donations to university and college endowments. Prior to the end of the program, the Students’ Union made a $10,000 donation to the Malaspina University College Foundation that was matched by the BC government to create an endowment of $20,000. Since the Endowment was founded it has generatedmore than $4,500 as there have been no disbursements.

In the summer of 2007, the Students’ Union informed the University’s Foundation that it intended to discontinue it’s annual awards in favor of annual donations to the Endowment Fund, with annual interest from the Endowment used to fund a smaller number of awards. The Board adopted a policy on student financial assistance that incorporated this change. Unfortunately, due to miscommunication between the Students’ Union and University, no awards were presented in 2007/2008; however, three awards of $500 each will be awarded in 2008/2009. The Endowment Fund’s principle needs to grow to approximately $43,000 to cover the cost of the three annual awards from its annual interest and the Students’ Union will have approximately six years to meet that target before the current $4,500 is depleted.

Annually the Students’ Union provides student financial support in three forms: awards, emergency aid bursaries and emergency aid vouchers. The Students’ Union remains one of the largest providers of private student financial assistance at Vancouver Island Univesity and is among the top 20 donors to the Istitution’s Foundation.

listed below is a summary of activities for 2007/2008 and recommendations for improving and enhancing the service in the future.

The BC government annual provides matching funding to each students’ union in the province willing to donate funds to student financial assistance. The matching amount is dictated by the BC government and is forwarded to the Financial Aid Office of each institution upon verification of a matching donation by the students’ union. The funds are used to support bursaries to students.

Annually the Students’ Union provides the full matching amount of $5,000 that assists between 20 and 25 students.

The Voucher Program began in 1996 when the Board, working with the University’s Financial Aid Department, developed a system to provide emergency funding to students who were falling through the cracks in the student aid system. The Program, which expanded to include regional campuses in 2003, provides students in need with gift vouchers worth up to $200 for local grocery stories. For the past several years, the Students’ Union has worked exclusively with Quality Foods in Nanaimo (including the Parksville Centre), and in exchange Quality Foods has provided a 5% discount on gift certificates for the program. On regional campuses, the campus staff purchases the vouchers from various vendors.

For 2007/2008, $4,000 was provided with $500 to each of the Cowichan and Powell River Campuses and 57 students received funding. An accounting of funds distributed is attached and includes accumulated surpluses of unused funds carried forward.

In the early 1990’s the Students’ Union has began providing funds for financial awards (funding allocations to students based on a mix of financial need, academic achievement and community involvement). Initially ten awards of $200 each were provided, but in recent years the distribution was changed to six awards of $400. No awards were distributed in 2007/2008 and in summer 2007 the Board resolved to cancel this program in favor of having awards distributed from the Endowment Fund (below).

To support the various financial aid programs, the Board resolved that additional promotions be done to recipients of awards and aid to ensure that source of aid was clear. As a result, in 2007/2008 every financial allocation from a Students’ Union sponsored program was accompanied by a card wishing the recipient luck in their studies and noting the role of the Students’ Union in the provision of student financial assistance.

To support the introduction of the Health and Dental Plan in 2007, the Board resolved to allocate $2,000 from the administration fees charged to support the Plan to a fund for students whose financial situation made the premium cost a significant hardship. In 2007/2008 the Financial Aid Office provided assistance to four students and used $960 from the Fund. The remaining surplus was transferred to the Endowment Fund as a contribution to the principle.