UBC Student Financial Support Project - University of British Columbia

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