The Alberta Blue Cross is encouraging Indigenous students in the province to apply for their Indigenous scholarship program.
The Alberta Blue Cross Indigenous scholarship program offers nine scholarships of $1,500 every year. They are awarded based on Personal goals, financial need, and community involvement.
Alberta Blue Cross has been running the Indigenous scholarship program for over 25 years, and more than 100 scholarships have to be awarded to Indigenous students.
As part of their commitment to wellness, the long-standing Indigenous scholarship program is intended to support the financial wellness of Indigenous students and the overall wellness of the communities they give back to.
The program is intended to help advance equitable access to post-secondary education for Indigenous students.
The group also sponsors a long-standing program that provides scholarships at every Alberta post-secondary institution across the province. Funding for both programs comes from Alberta Blue Cross’s community foundation.
Previously, the program offered three scholarships to first year students who had just graduated high school and six to mature students in their first year of study.
To increase accessibility, the scholarship is now open to Indigenous students in any year of study, meaning that any students in any year of study who are attending an accredited post-secondary institution in Alberta are eligible to apply.
Senior vice-president of corporate relations and community engagement with Alberta Blue Cross, Brian Geislinger, said that the group is thrilled to bring the program back for 2025.
“We’ve been privileged to support some incredible individuals in their education journeys through this program,” Geislinger said. “In 2024 we received a record number of applications for our Indigenous scholarship program and based on this demand we removed potential limits for application, allowing for more entrants in any year of study.”
The application deadline is Jan. 30, 2025. Scholarships recipients will be selected by an external committee with expertise in academia and indigenous education. Chosen applicants will be contacted in early March.
For more information on the scholarship program, including application forms for Indigenous students, please visit www.community.ab.bluecross.ca/programs/indigenous-scholarships.php.
