UBC Student Financial Support Project - University of British Columbia

BRIEFING NOTE
FROM:
TO:
C.C.:
Kiran Mahal, VP Academic and University Affairs
AMS Council
Justin Yang, Chair, Student Senate Caucus; Matt Parson, Mike Silley, and Curtis Tse,
Student Board of Governors Reps.
Subject: UBC Student Financial Support Project
Background – UBC Bursary Program
The UBC Bursary Program provides non-repayable financial awards to students based on financial need.
In order to apply to receive bursary funds, a student must: 1
• Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or landed immigrant
• Be receiving a government student loan
• Have assessed unmet financial need
Assessed financial need is “an amount calculated using a standardized method, and helps predict how
much money you will need once your resources have been subtracted from your educational costs and
living expenses.” 2
Available resources for a student that are factored into assessing financial need include family support,
government student loan allocation, scholarships or bursaries already awarded, and employment
income.
The Bursary Program is supported financially by donor endowments, annual contributions such as the
AMS Bursary Fund, and approximately 6% of domestic student tuition revenue. Currently, all domestic
students pay into the bursary program but only students who are receiving government student loans
are eligible to apply for the funding. Approximately 22% of UBC students receive government funded
need-based financial support. 3 In the 2011/12 academic year, 3,696 students received $12.3M from the
Bursary Program with an average award amount of $3,354.
Student Financial Support Project
Under university Policy 72 – Access to the University of British Columbia, UBC makes a commitment to
ensure that no domestic student is prevented from attending or continuing their studies at UBC as a
result of financial need. The Policy covers students who have taken all reasonable steps to explore
funding avenues including family support and government student loan programs. Students are required
to demonstrate financial need and unmet need can be covered by different forms of financial aid
including bursaries, university loans, or external loans. Policy 72 does not cover international students;
however the university provides $6.4M in scholarships and awards for ISI students. 4
1 http://www.students.ubc.ca/finance/types-of-financial-support/ubc-bursaries/
2 http://www.ubc.ca/okanagan/students/glossary.html
3 “Tuition Consultation…access and affordability” Presentation, VP Students Office to UBC Board of Governors
March 28, 2013.
4 “Tuition Consultation…access and affordability” Presentation, VP Students Office to UBC Board of Governors
March 28, 2013.
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

In the last academic year, the UBC Board of Governors began a conversation around the application of
Policy 72 in practice. The BoG asked whether financial aid was being allocated to the students in the
most need of financial resources. The response to this question is that it cannot be determined for
certain, because only students receiving government student loans are eligible to receive bursary funds.
While students on student loans have financial need, there may be many other students who are not
participating in the government student loan program who also have similar if not greater unmet
financial need.
In addition to the allocation of financial support, there was also an audit of the student financial support
process that identified risks in the management of data maintained for awards. This pointed towards a
need for the improvement of data management systems.
The Student Financial Support Project stemmed from these discussions between the Board of Governors
and Enrolment Services regarding allocations of both merit based and needs based financial aid to UBC
students. The result of these conversations pointed towards a need to ensure that the financial aid
process was opened up to all students who demonstrated financial need.
Scope of Project
The systems and process improvement will cover university and external awards for graduate and
undergraduate students, domestic and international. This will include merit based scholarships and
needs based bursaries as well as student loan programs.
Vision of Project
“Provide adequate student financial support to ensure financially challenged students have access to the
whole UBC experience - a goal outlined in UBC’s Place and Promise.”
The Student Financial Support Project plans to work towards this vision by:
• Simplifying the processes involved with applying for and allocating financial aid
• Offering merit and needs based awards earlier, giving student more time to plan
• Offering comprehensive financial packages to students upon admission
• Recognizing and taking into account the real cost of living in Vancouver and Kelowna and
attending UBC in assessing financial need
Opening Up Financial Aid Process
Currently, the university relies on the government student loan program to review a student’s financial
situation and determine whether an individual student demonstrates financial need. Because UBC does
not have the systems or processes in place to assess financial need in-house, UBC has been thus far
unable to open up the bursary program to students who are not enrolled in the government student
loan program.
This project will allow the university to build the infrastructure to enable all students to complete a
financial profile upon admission, and throughout the course of their degree, to submit necessary
information to assess a student’s financial need. Based on the information collected through the
financial profile, Enrolment Services will be able to provide students with a financial package based on
their unmet need with their admissions offer or by late May for continuing students. This process will
provide financial certainty to student enabling them to accurately plan ahead for their academic year at
UBC.
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

In order to accurately assess student unmet need, the project will also work to develop a financial need
assessment system that takes into account the real costs of attending UBC in Vancouver and Kelowna.
The project will also create UBC specific student/parental contribution tables taking into account the
unique situations of UBC students. The system will be integrated with the awards system to account for
scholarships, merit based awards, external bursaries or UBC employment income allowing for a more
accurate picture of a student’s financial situation.
Through creating a UBC specific assessment tools that is openly communicated to the UBC community,
the project will aim to increase the transparency in the financial aid allocation process. Student will be
able to understand why they have received a certain amount of funding with assurance that funding is
being allocated to students with the most need.
Streamlining Merit Based Award Adjudication
In the preliminary stages of this project, Enrolment Services mapped out process management for all
UBC scholarships and external awards to identify areas for improvement and increased efficiency. This
project will work to improve the processes for adjudicating merit based awards. This past year, major
entrance scholarship applications were integrated into the UBC student application process. This move
linked the MES to the personal profile process of Broad Based Admissions effectively making all students
eligible to be considered for a MES. In the past, students were nominated for MES by their secondary
school. This process enabled students to receive notice awarding of a MES along with their admissions
offer. There is currently a project in developed to integrate the student housing application with this
process with an aim to work towards a consolidated offer system where, along with their admissions
offer, student receive offer for merit based scholarships, financial aid and on-campus housing.
For continuing students, the merit based process will be improved by utilizing the new awards system to
identify candidate, consolidate adjudication committee scores, verify eligibility, and generate offers.
There is also an opportunity to explore the creation of a database that outlines the different internal
UBC awards available to continuing students.
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

Student Experience Summary 5
New Students:
Continuing Students:
5 Figures obtained from Student Financial Support Project Director, Barbara Crocker
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

Summary of Benefits
- Review comprehensive financial package with merit based and needs based awards annually
allowing for financial certainty
- Process will be publically communicated and transparent
- Allocation of financial aid to neediest students first
- UBC specific bursary process de-linked from student loan system
- UBC specific cost of living and contribution assessment tools
- Emergency funding still available to all students
- Streamlined operations and processes for all awards
- Derivation of maximum benefit to students from financial aid and awards budget
Progress to Date
Funding to support the undertaking of this project was approved by the UBC VP Finance in December
2012. The project underwent a Request for Proposal process to select a vendor to design the systems for
the project from January-March. The vendor team will begin to design the systems in May 2013 with an
estimated project completion date of March 2015.
Consultation
Over the last academic year, Enrolment Services engaged in consultation with the AMS and GSS
executives to discuss the project vision and scope to develop an ideal future state for financial support
at UBC. This feedback was taken into account when designing the proposal taken to the university
executive for approval. A presentation about the project was made to AMS council on January 23 rd 2013.
At this presentation, Barbara Crocker indicated that over the next academic year there would be further
engagement with the AMS and GSS in designing the systems and financial profile as well as broader
student consultation and communication.
Issues and Opportunities for Consideration
Development of UBC Specific Cost and Contribution Assessment Tools
A key part of the infrastructure design will include developing a financial need assessment tool based on
the real costs of attending UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanogan. This presents an opportunity for the AMS
to take part in shaping this cost of living table on an annual basis to reflect the cost of education for
students. This also presents a very exciting opportunity to finally define what affordable housing is for
students, something that has come up numerous times in our work around advocating for affordable
housing options on-campus.
In addition to developing a cost of living assessment, the process will also develop a student/parental
contribution table. An issue that has surfaced many times in relation to the student loan allocation
process is whether the expected parental contributions are realistic. This process will allow students to
voice their views on setting realistic family contribution expectations.
Changes to Process and Allocations
With the changes being implemented through this project, the financial aid process will be opened up to
all students, but the pool of funds in the financial aid pool will remain the same. As a result, some
students will not receive as much money as they have received in the past. There are many issues that
may arise from this, but it is important to realize that this process will strive to fill unmet need of
students with the greatest demonstrated need first and work its way up. Although certain students will
receive less money than before, others who previously received no institutional support will know be
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

eligible to receive funds. That being said, UBC’s administration has assured us that emergency funds will
still be available to students.
With this new system, the allocation process will be made much more transparent and the AMS and
UBC will have to continue working together to ensure that the correct information is sent out to
students about the process. These changes also present an opportunity to improve communication to
current and prospective students about the financial aid systems available to them in funding their
education at UBC.
Merit Based Scholarship Database
The university offers many merit based scholarships to continuing students. Through the mapping
exercise employed in preliminary stages of this project, a lot of data was collected on these awards. This
data could be leveraged to develop a comprehensive merit scholarship database for all students to
access information about scholarships they may be eligible for while continuing their studies at UBC.
This is currently not explicitly in the scope of the project, but provides an interesting opportunity to
explore. This could potentially makes the merit based scholarship process more open and accessible to
all students, a system that is currently based heavily on faculty or staff recommendations.
Revision of Policy 72
The implementation of this project will likely require that revisions be made to university Policy 72. This
presents a very exciting opportunity for students to help shape the way financial aid and access to UBC
will be structured for the near future. The current policy is heavily focused on domestic student aid, and
international students have expressed a desire for the university to do more in enabling students to
continue their studies at UBC. The AMS and the ISA can work closely through this revision process to
suggest new systems to support international students.
External Advocacy
This project shows UBC’s commitment to do the most that it can with what it has to improve access and
affordability for students. This re-affirms the need for the provincial government to step up and commit
to doing the same for BC students.
Recommendation to Committee
We recommend that the committee pass a motion in support of the project undertaken by the
university and express the AMS’ interest in being involved with the opportunities that this project
presents for improving the UBC experience for all students.
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013

Draft Wording for Policy Motion
Whereas the AMS recognizes that accessibility and affordability are key issues impacting current and
prospective UBC students;
Whereas the university has committed to undertaking a student financial support project that aims to
improve the systems and processes associated with the allocation of merit based and needs based
awards at UBC;
Whereas this project provides many benefits to student including: the offering of comprehensive
financial packages; greater transparency in financial aid allocation; UBC specific cost assessment and
contribution tools;
BIRT the AMS formally supports the vision and goals of the Student Financial Support Project;
BIFRT the AMS encourages the university to engage in on-going student consultation in the
development, design, implementation and communication of the project.
Office of the AMS Vice President, Academic and University Affairs
April 10, 2013