Heyo!
So two weeks ago, I had the privilege of going to the BCIT Fall Scholarships and Awards Ceremony! School of Business edition. (There were separate ceremonies for the different schools.) Here at the ceremony, donors presented their awards to full-time students who have completed a part of their program with academic achievements.
School of Business Awards: there was food and tea! Score.
It was pretty neat to see how so many programs are supported financially by their respective industries. In Graphic Communications alone, we had 6 scholarships awarded to our cohort of 20 students. Many of the larger programs, like Marketing, had many more awards for their multiple cohorts. One of the Accounting students must have done a kick-ass job in their first year as he received six awards in total (What?! Kick-ass.) I was presented the Printed in Canada award by Julia Blockberger, and got to have a chat with her afterwards about how the fund began. It is just super encouraging to hear about their faith in the next generation of thinkers. Shoutouts to Scott McAlpine for capturing each of our beautiful faces!
Hurray! Now I have more moolah to help subsidize my education! Being at school for 4+ years can get expensive, and when things get expensive, things get that much more stressful. These awards are one of the ways that have helped alleviate that financial stress, but there are many more. One of my favourite methods is to go on a good hunt for used textbooks, or even borrowing from the library (though be quick, there are other sneaky/thrifty students too!)
Tips for buying textbooks:
- Always wait for your professor/teacher to announce which books are required and which are “recommended” (you know what that means…!)
- Check to see if older editions are acceptable
- Ask students in the level above you for their textbooks (chances are, they’re trying to get rid of them ASAP)
- Use the ISBN to search websites like Craigslist, Kijiji, etc. (SFU and UBC use the same books as BCIT for certain courses)
Tips for selling textbooks:
- Be kind! You were once them, reluctant to hand over the extra $20 for the coffee/tea stained textbook.
What other ways have you found helpful for managing poor student finances? A budgeting spreadsheet? Cutting out the daily coffee? Packing and bringing food? Let me know! I’ll be needing it with Christmas season upon us (are those sleigh bells or cash registers I hear?)
Ciao!
n.