Student Awards Procedure

Approver:: Academic Coordinating Committee
Policy Owner:: Vice-President, Academic
Policy Lead(s):: Executive Director, Registrarial Services
Defining policy:: Student Awards Policy
Effective date:: 2009-10-01
Date of last approval:: 2024-10-23

Procedure Statement

This procedure governs the process for establishing, maintaining and amending student awards at Conestoga College.

Definitions

Conestoga College maintains a glossary of terms specific to the institution. The terms in use for this document are defined below.

Academic Grants: Academic Grants are monetary awards based on a combination of merit and financial need. A student may receive an Academic Grant in addition to any other scholarships, prizes, or bursaries for which they are eligible.
Bursaries: Bursaries are monetary awards based on financial need as determined by Conestoga, and may also include a minimum expectation of academic achievement or other miscellaneous criteria.
Entrance Awards: Awards granted to students who attain a high admission average and meet the criteria for the award.
Good Standing: Students are deemed to be in good standing when applying for an award, provided that they are passing all courses, are not on academic probation, or have not been discontinued due to academic performance. In addition, they must not have received a penalty under the Academic Integrity Policy.
Graduand Awards: are granted to students who are graduating and meet the criteria for the award.
In-course Awards: Awards granted to students currently enrolled in a program at Conestoga and meet the criteria for the award.
James W. Church Award: Recognizes a student who excels in the three areas deemed by Dr. Church to be important for a person to become all that they are capable of being. It is open to full-time students who are in their graduating year of an Ontario College Diploma, Ontario College Advanced Diploma, Degree, or Ontario College Graduate Certificate who have obtained a program GPA of 3.75. The award is presented annually at convocation.
Mastercraft Award: Recognizes student achievement of excellence in program-related skills. Participating students must be registered as part-time or full-time in an Ontario College Certificate, Ontario College Graduate Certificate, Ontario College Diploma, Ontario College Advanced Diploma, or Degree program. To qualify for final judging, entries must first be selected as winners at the program level.
Prizes: Prizes are monetary awards and/or awards of monetary worth (e.g. book, medal) normally granted for academic excellence in a particular academic area and, in some cases, other forms of earned merit. Prizes may have a specified value in terms of monetary benefit to the recipient.
Scholarships: Scholarships are monetary awards based on academic excellence and, in some cases, other forms of earned merit. Scholarships have a specified value in terms of monetary benefit to the recipient. Scholarship categories include, but are not limited to, entrance, in-course, part-time, and graduand.

Responsibilities

Student Financial Services

Administers the Student Award policy and procedures.
Markets awards, bursaries and scholarships administered by the Financial Aid Office to students to ensure that they are aware of the financial assistance available and that the process encourages applications

Advancement Office

Ensures the Student Award policy and procedures are followed and adhered to.
Prepares terms of reference and gift agreements for student awards.
Stewards donors to ensure that funding for student awards is maintained.

Procedure

Basis of Awards

Awards may be established to recognize student achievement using a variety of criteria as identified in the Student Awards Policy which include the following:

Overall academic performance using high school or Conestoga achievement (any combination of term, cumulative, program GPA), or final year of studies.
Academic performance in a particular program, course, or project using term, program cumulative GPA, or course grade.
Achievement in a skill related to the student's academic area in addition to attaining minimum academic requirements.
Non-academic achievements or the display of other qualities deemed worthy of consideration by the Conestoga or a specific school.
Demonstrated financial need (only in the case of bursaries and academic grants.)

Establishing an Award

As new student awards are established, they must include Terms and Conditions.

Terms and conditions should ensure equity in competition and distribution.
Terms and conditions should be free of criteria based on personal characteristics as noted in Section 2 of the Policy on Scholarships and Awards in the Ontario Human Rights Code.

Terms and conditions of an award must include limited criteria so that eligible students can be effectively identified.
Terms and conditions of any award must be approved by the Advancement Office and the Registrar's Office.
Awards may be based on calculable criteria (for example, to be given to the student with the highest mark in a particular program) or subjective criteria (where other criteria are included such as participation or demonstrated interest and achievement in a subject as deemed by an academic award selection committee.)
Academic Grants require a combination of academic achievement and financial need; bursaries require that only financial need be demonstrated.
The Awards directory includes all awards that are available at Conestoga and can be found college website.
Upon the establishment of a fund to support a student award, Conestoga undertakes to abide by the terms attached to funds received through bequests and gifts, provided that such terms are consistent with 1- 4, above.
Conestoga reserves the right to establish the minimum value of any new awards. The minimum value will be reviewed periodically by Conestoga and adjusted as appropriate.

Amendment of Established Awards

The terms and conditions of established awards represent a formal agreement between the donor and Conestoga.

Once approved, terms of an award can only be changed by a formal amendment process.
The approval process for amendments will follow the procedure for establishing a new award.

Relevant Legislation and Related Documents

Relevant legislation

Ontario Human Rights Codes Policy on Scholarships and Awards

Revision Log

Dates	Details
2009-09-30	Policy and Procedure Committee - Approved
2009-10-21	Academic Coordinating Committee – Approved
2015-10-20	Title updates
2024-10-16	Academic Forum
2024-10-23	Academic Coordinating Committee