Expanding Bursary Program: A Boost to LCC

BY MARK BOGHEN , WRITER

Some degree of financial assistance for a limited number of students has long existed at LCC. With a growing recognition of the value of diversity in the student population, greater efforts have been made to expand the bursaries on offer, both in the number of awards and the amount of funds granted. More and more, the advantages of the LCC experience are available to students who might make the most of them.

The wider LCC community has always been characterized by its generosity but, historically, fundraising efforts have focused largely on improvements to the school’s physical plant: buildings, facilities, sports complexes. In recent years attention has turned to the LCC endowment’s Power of Possibilities Bursary Campaign. With the original goal of raising $10M already surpassed, a new target of $25M is in sight. This money goes directly to the LCC Foundation endowment, and bursaries are disbursed annually and in perpetuity to students requiring financial support. LCC Director of Advancement Nancy Smith stresses that “the cost of tuition should not be a barrier to students who might benefit from the excellence of an LCC education, while contributing their views, strengths and tremendous potential to the other students in their cohort.” The playing field is being levelled.

For the time being, these bursaries are on offer to students in grade 7 to Pre-U, though the long-term hope is to widen the program even more. A specialized third-party company independently analyzes the needs of potential applicants. The process is objective, confidential and rigorously fair. The school aims to bridge the gap between the cost of attendance and what families can afford, with some having a high percentage of fees covered, and some closer to 50%. In 2023–2024, 114 students received bursaries, with close to $2M distributed.

LCC Director of Enrolment and Communications Dawn Levy has seen the impact of these efforts up close. “Numerous families have approached me at graduation, thankful for the tremendous difference this has made in their children’s lives. It affirms everything I do here at LCC. It feels so great to give these students an amazing launchpad into postsecondary studies and their professional lives.”

The general bursary is not the only source of funding for financial assistance: there are a number of named funds, some established by individual contributors, some by graduating classes. Proceeds from the LCC Store, sometimes as much as $100K a year, go to tuition for students in need.

While bursaries are generally targeted towards tuition fees, a special Staff for Students fund, consisting of money donated by LCC teachers and staff, helps pay for incidentals like school trip fees for students who might otherwise struggle to cover them. This helps ensure that all students share a common experience, irrespective of their socioeconomic background. A point of pride is that LCC staff participate at the highest percentile for this kind of giving of any member school of CAIS (Canadian Accredited Independent Schools).

According to Deputy Head Mark Salkeld, the LCC bursary program is “a classic win-win. It offers greater opportunity to deserving students and, by providing exposure to a wider range of backgrounds, augments the learning experience for everyone, ensuring that LCC is not only a global school, but a true microcosm of the community that it serves.”

Read more about the Power of Possibilities Bursary Campaign on page 39.