Alberta minister of advanced education Demetrios Nicolaides   (Photo courtesy of Demetrios Nicolaides / Facebook)

By Scott Roblin

Applications Open

Applications for Rutherford Scholarship open after being put on hold by province

Aug 6, 2019 | 6:04 PM

EDMONTON, AB – Alberta’s most widely used post-secondary scholarship is working as intended once again, after concern that students would not be able to receive it before the school year.

Applications are being accepted immediately for the Rutherford Scholarship and recipients will be receiving their awards on schedule.

“In my view the scholarship not being open is not acceptable,” said minister of advanced education Demetrios Nicolaides. “So, I directed the department to ensure that it was opened and I’m happy to see that we were able to achieve that.”

Controversy around the scholarship came to light on Monday, as a technological upgrade to the application process delayed recipients receiving the awards from August to late fall.

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Accessed by thousands of Alberta high school students every year, the Rutherford Scholarship is awarded to students who achieve an average of 75 percent or higher. Monetary amounts can vary between $300 and $2,500 depending on the applicant.

Nicolaides said it was an internal mistake to delay the Rutherford Scholarship as part of the upgrades and families should now be able to access the program without issue.

“The Rutherford Scholarship should never have been part of that and should never have been impacted,” said Nicolaides. “There was a degree of miscommunication with the department and once I was able to clarify that, I provided that direct instruction to the ministry and to the department to make the Rutherford Scholarship available immediately.”

Dozens of other provincial scholarships are still hanging in the balance in terms of application dates, but Nicolaides said they wanted to the tackle the largest used program first.

“It has a high level of impact and is the most significant,” he said. “I think if memory serves correct, it’s about $40 million a year. So, that’s the top priority at the moment.”

Following the announcement from the provincial government, the opposition NDP and advanced education critic David Eggen released the following statement.

“While we give credit to the Minister for clearing up the confusion he created, he needs to do better next time,” said Eggen. “I am glad the Minister listened to the calls from our caucus and from parents and students affected by this baffling oversight. We will continue to monitor this situation to ensure that students get access to the scholarship money they earned in full and on time.”

No further delays are expected to hamper the Rutherford Scholarship process, as many post-secondary schools like Medicine Hat College will begin accepting fees in the coming months.

“The most important thing is that students, parents, and families can rest assured that whoever is eligible to receive the Rutherford Scholarship will receive it on time, as planned, and as expected without any kind of delay or interruption,” said Nicolaides.