District/Authority Scholarships

On this page

• Background
• Key dates
• Eligibility
• Apply

Background

The District/Authority scholarship is awarded to 5,500 high school graduates who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen area.

The Ministry of Education and Child Care sets core eligibility requirements and general guidelines; local scholarship committees determine awarding criteria and select their conditional recipients.

The Ministry confirms that the selected students have meet basic criteria and then sends these confirmed recipients a $1,250 scholarship voucher. They may redeem this voucher with the Ministry to be reimbursed for tuition paid after they are attending a post-secondary institution that is designated by the Province of B.C. (i.e., approved for Canada Student Loans) or a program provider that is approved by SkilledTradesBC.  

Students have five years to redeem their District/Authority scholarship vouchers; an expiry date is printed on each voucher and extensions are not possible. 

Key dates

• Spring: conditional recipients notified by their district/authority
• September: conditional recipients checked against eligibility requirements
• November: paper scholarship vouchers mailed to confirmed recipients

Eligibility

Students selected as conditional recipients of the District/Authority scholarship must satisfy the following requirements by August 31 of their graduating year to be confirmed as a recipient and receive their scholarship voucher:

• Meet core eligibility requirements
• Fulfill the graduation requirements of either the B.C. Certificate of Graduation (Dogwood Diploma) or the B.C. Adult Graduation Diploma (Adult Dogwood)
• Meet criteria determined by the student’s local scholarship committee, including demonstration of outstanding achievement in one of the areas listed below

Area of interest	Examples
Applied Design, Skills, and Technologies	Business, Home Economics, Media Arts, Technology, Tourism
Community Service (Volunteer Activity)	Includes awareness of local, global, and cultural issues
Fine Arts	Dance, Drama, Music, Visual Arts
Indigenous Languages and Culture	Demonstrated at school or in the community
Languages	External Assessments or Languages Curriculum, including AP and IB courses
Physical Activity (and Health)	Athletics, Dance, Gymnastics
Technical and Trades Training	Coding, Culinary Arts, Mechanics, Robotics, Woodwork

Apply

Students should contact their school for details about local scholarship criteria and application processes. 

• Students attending public schools apply through their school or district office
• Students attending independent schools apply through the Federation of Independent School Associations (FISA) which facilitates the process for Groups 1, 2, and 4 independent schools

Students are encouraged to inform their high schools of any address changes prior to graduation. If your address changes after you graduate, please inform the Provincial Scholarships Program team: scholarships@gov.bc.ca. In the fall, the Ministry mails paper scholarship vouchers to recipients using the home addresses reported by schools.