Non-profit society Beedie Luminaries wants to support single parents interested in going back to school or pursuing a higher education, and with 30 scholarships, all worth up to $40,000, they intend to make good on that promise.
For 2022, they’ve doubled the number of Single Parent Award for Resilience & Knowledge (SPARK) scholarships available to applicants. The deadline to submit is April 21 at 9 a.m.
Executive Director of Beedie Luminaries Martina Meckova highlights the many stressors that single parents face – including lack of flexible work arrangements, the scarcity and expensiveness of childcare and soaring costs of living – when explaining where the idea behind this scholarship program came from.
“We are well aware that this is all negatively affecting the wellbeing on the children and parent in these households, and also seeing through our Beedie Luminaries [Grade 12] program, where over 55 per cent of our students live with a single parent, we recognized the need,” she says.
The SPARK program was launched last year and they saw an incredible amount of single parent applicants. This was the inspiration behind increasing the number of scholarships available for 2022.
Full-time students receive $40,000 – with $10,000 each year for up to four years of study – and part-time students receive $30,000 – with $5,000 each year for up to six years.
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