Gibbons: Cap on scholarships will help save money (Update)

Today, Dr the Hon E Grant Gibbons, JP, MP, Minister of Education and Economic Development moved to correct some of the misinformation that has been circulating on the granting of scholarships and awards.

The Minister stated “The Ministry of Education and Economic Development continues to make a substantial investment in public education and post-secondary scholarships and awards to students with outstanding academic achievement, students in financial need who are in good academic standing, mature students, and promising candidates for bachelor of education degrees.

The provision of scholarships and awards is recommended by the Scholarships and Awards Committee, a sub-committee of the Board of Education. Through the Board of Education, recommendations are made to the Minister of Education and Economic Development on the award of Bermuda Government Scholarships. The Board also has responsibility to award Mature Student Awards, Further Education Awards and Teacher Training Awards. The Scholarships and Awards Committee has, as was the case last year, been tasked with reviewing the budget and making recommendations for the allocation of monies for each of the scholarships and awards categories.”

The 2014/2015 budget for scholarships and awards has been set at $1,000,000. This is a small decrease from last year’s actual spend of $1,241,000. The Minister continued, “The Scholarships and Awards Committee can make recommendations to change the amount of money allocated for each scholarship and award category, keeping in mind the number and quality of applicants for each category. I can then review their recommendations and act accordingly.”

To date, for this year, the Ministry of Education and Economic Development has received approximately 200 applications for scholarships and awards from 160 applicants, as some students apply to more than one scholarship category. This is a slight decrease from last year, when 238 applications were received from 195 applicants.

Members of the public may recall that in 2013, the Government introduced changes to the Bermuda Government Scholarship (BGS) regime, the Government’s most expensive and generous scholarship. Prior to changes being made, the Government used to fund the entire cost of a student’s tuition for a period of up to three years. On top of tuition, other expenses were also covered such as expenses for subsistence as well as accommodation at a rate equal to the cost of dormitory accommodation for a single student, a one-way airline ticket at the beginning of studies, and a one-way airline ticket to return to Bermuda upon successful completion of studies. 

The unlimited funding of total tuition made the BGS unsustainable in the long term, with some scholarships costing upwards of $70,000.

The scholarship was only tenable for up to three years, requiring the recipients to either request extensions and/or seek other funding for their fourth year of university.

The new BGS regime set a cap of $35,000 per year and extended the scholarship to four years. This allowed the Ministry of Education and Economic Development to appropriately budget and plan for future scholarship expenses for all scholarships and awards categories. The new regime has resulted in cost savings that will be fully realized once all BGS recipients from the previous regime complete their studies.

The scholarships and awards categories are as follows:

Teacher Training Awards which are valued at $15,000 per year for up to three years and  given to promising Bachelor of Education candidates studying subjects where there are shortages of local candidates, such as geography, English language, arts, mathematics, modern foreign languages and special education. Awardees are expected to return to Bermuda and teach within the Bermuda Public School System;

Mature student Awards which are valued at $15,000 for up to three years for successful candidates who are over the age of 35 and who wish to return to post-secondary education;

Further Education Awards which are valued at between $1,500 and $10,000 and awarded to students who are in financial need studying at university, and who have a GPA of 2.0 (70%) and above; and;

Bermuda Government Scholarships which are valued at up to $35,000 for tuition and accommodation for Bermuda’s top scholars, many of whom in recent years have held a GPA of at least 3.9 and above.  This scholarship is tenable for four years.

Shadow Minister of Education Lovitta Foggo on Tuesday said "In his press statement yesterday, Education Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons attempted to mislead the public into believing that further education funding was at similar levels as previous years.  This may be the case for government scholarships, however, this is not the case for further education awards.

Bermuda Government Scholarships are awarded based on academic merit.  Further education awards are given based on a combination of academic performance and financial need.  In the National Budget 2014/2015 the funding for further education awards was decreased to $40,000, a loss of $700,000.  This is a marked decrease in funding.  Students that may not qualify for a government scholarship will now find themselves likely unable to continue their tertiary education due to this decrease in funding.

We find this unacceptable and totally impractical.  The OBA government campaigned that a student’s financial situation should not be a barrier to receiving a college education, yet once again their actions have contradicted their words.

We call on all people who support a return to the previous further education levels of $700,000 to join the Silent sit in at the Cabinet Office grounds to be held on today, Tuesday, May 6 at 12 noon."