WATCH ABOVE: Students at one Drayton Valley high school are fighting to get back a ‘Cash for Credits’ scholarship program. Fletcher Kent explains.
EDMONTON — Shelby Seely started the school year expecting her Drayton Valley high school to give her 500 dollars when she graduates. Seely has just learned she will not get that money and neither will any of her friends.
In Jan., Alberta Education ordered all schools to stop offering credit incentive programs. Seely and her fellow students at Frank Maddock High School plan to fight that decision.
“I want to get it reinstated,” says Seely. “I want to take this as far as we need to go.”
The credit incentive program worked like this:
- Schools budget to pay for the courses its students are required to take.
- The province then funds schools based on how many credits students actually take.
- If a student takes more courses than required, the school receives extra money from the province.
At Frank Maddock High School in Drayton Valley, some of that extra money went to students who chose to take more courses than the province required. Scholarships of between $500 and $1000 were offered to graduates depending on how many credits they completed.
The problem is that money came from provincial education grants which may only be used to directly pay for education. It may not be used as a reward. That is why the province ordered an end to the incentives.
Students say the issue should not be so cut and dry. Jeremy Hoefsloot is in grade 12 and says the incentive influenced what courses he took.
“It really broadened my horizons,” says Hoefsloot.
“This is something that makes people do more than what needs to be done and they’re taking that away.”
Students say the program did not only help students. The school receives most of the extra money. Students at Frank Maddock High School say the credit incentive program helped the school to purchase computers and to renovate the library.
Hoefsloot fears what might happen if students are not given the incentive to take more courses.
“We’re trying to improve our fitness centre now but without the credit incentive program, it doesn’t seem like a reality.”
Education Minister, Gordon Dirks says he ordered an end to the incentives as soon as he heard about them. He adds Frank Maddock wasn’t the only school offering the program.
While there may be benefits, Dirks says the rules are clear, “There’s a lot of things that work. The issue is where the money is going to go and the money should go to direct front line instruction in classrooms.”
Eligible grade 12 students at Frank Maddock will receive their scholarships at the end of this school year but grade 10 and 11 students will not receive any money when they graduate.
Students hope to change the minister’s mind. They have begun writing letters to Dirks.
The Wild Rose School Division’s superintendent holds out hope the program isn’t dead yet. Brian Celli wants more discussion with Alberta Education becuase he says the program has helped everyone involved with it. He says, “It brought it to light for a conversation about is this valuable and can it be maintained somehow.”
Certainly the students say the results are great.
“In this situation, the students are learning more,” says Jeremy Hoefsloot. “You can’t argue with that.”
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