This article gives you all the necessary info & guide to the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship. It will guide you to the necessary resources, who is eligible for this scholarship, how to apply for it etc.
When students choose to pursue higher education, they also encounter the challenges of financing their academic goals. Fortunately, there are hundreds of scholarships available to help them meet these financial challenges and realize their potential.
The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship is one such scholarship that was created to encourage young Albertans to fulfill their obligations as citizens; it’s awarded annually to undergraduate students who demonstrate a commitment to contributing positively to the community through work and extracurricular activities.
What Is The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship?
The Alberta Alexander Rutherford Scholarship is an entrance scholarship for first-year, full-time undergraduate students who have lived in Alberta for at least the last 12 months and have demonstrated some kind of merit. The scholarship is intended to help students with financial needs and is worth up to $5,000 per year.
The province of Alberta also offers its own awards program with separate criteria from the other three Atlantic provinces (Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia).
Students can apply for one or more of these programs based on their eligibility requirements: Student Awards Program, Campus Alberta Award Program, and Student Achievement Awards Program.
The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship is one of the most prestigious awards available to high school students in Alberta. It was created by former Premier George W. Crosbie and named after his father, Alexander Rutherford (1847-1922), who served as premier from 1905 to 1908.
The scholarship provides financial assistance to deserving Alberta high school graduates who enter into post-secondary education at an institution within the Province of Alberta.
Who Is Alexander Rutherford?
Alexander Rutherford was a lawyer and politician who served as Alberta’s premier from 1921 to 1925. He was born in Ontario in 1864 but moved to Alberta with his family in 1905.
After graduating from law school at the University of Toronto at age 19, Rutherford joined the firm of Galt (now Cambridge) lawyer A.F.Lamb where he worked until 1893 when he became a partner in the firm Woodstock & Hespeler where he remained until 1897 when he moved west with his wife Jeanie and their son Bruce to open up a practice in Calgary where they had previously lived for six months after their wedding ceremony took place there on September 11,th 1890 at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church on Fourth Street South (now called Fourth Street).
Who Is Eligible For The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship?
The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship, like many other thousands of scholarships available to students globally, has its target students and requirements for awarding, not the scholarship. Those eligible for this scholarship are Alberta citizens or residents for at least 13 months.
Requirements For The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship
The following are the requirements for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship:
- You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada
- You must be a resident of Alberta for at least 12 months before applying
- You must have graduated from an Alberta high school and completed your senior year during the previous academic year
You must be a first-year, full-time undergraduate student with an admission average of 70%. This can be calculated by taking your final grade in each subject from high school and dividing it by 40 (the number of credits).
The result is your percentage score, which would then need to be rounded up or down (to the nearest decimal point) to find out what your admission average is.
In addition to this requirement, you also need to have a minimum average of 60% in your last two years of high school as well as maintain that average throughout all four years before entering university.
What’s Considered Merit?
The award is meant to recognize “students who have demonstrated special potential and promise for their future careers in the fields of community development, finance, and philanthropy.”
To be considered for the scholarship, you must meet at least three out of five criteria: academic merit, financial need, community involvement, and leadership experience. You also need to submit an essay on a specific topic related to the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship program or other topics relating to community development. Finally, employers can endorse candidates through letters of recommendation from supervisors or professionals in the field.
How Much Is The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship Worth?
The Rutherford Scholarship is worth $1,000 per year for up to four years if you are a full-time student. If you are a part-time student or graduate student, it will be worth $1,500 or $2,500 per year respectively.
How many awards are given out?
The number of awards given out each year is determined by the number of applicants. This can be affected by a variety of factors, including:
- The desire and passion students have for pursuing their chosen field
- The amount of time they’ve spent studying the subject in question
- Their past performance in both school and extracurricular activities
Alexander Rutherford Scholarship Fund And How to Apply
Alexander Rutherford Scholarship Fund is a $2,000 scholarship funded by the government of Alberta. It is given to selected applicants based on their academic record, community involvement, and extracurricular activities.
The application process is available in early May and is due in late July depending on the semester you’re applying for either the fall or spring session.
When Do I Apply For The 2022/2023 Alexander Rutherford Scholarship?
You can apply for a Rutherford Scholarship in the fall of 2022 and spring of 2023. The deadline to apply for fall 2022 is March 1, 2022. The deadline to apply for spring 2023 is August 15, 2022.
To be considered for any year’s scholarship, you must first submit your application form (with all required documents attached). If successful in this first round, you will then be invited to attend a series of interviews with the scholarship selection committee over two days at the end of the application period in 2022.
Scholarship Guidelines For The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship
To be considered for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship, you must meet the following eligibility requirements:
- You are required to be a Canadian citizen or have permanent residency in Canada at the time of application
- Apply for the scholarship
- You must be an Alberta resident for at least 12 months before the date of application. If you are currently an international student studying in Alberta on an academic exchange program, you may still be eligible if your home institution is located outside of Canada (but not elsewhere in North America).
- You must have been admitted to an undergraduate degree program at an Alberta post-secondary institution within one year of completing high school graduation (or equivalent).
What if my parents just moved to Alberta so that I could go to school here?
If your parents have recently moved to Alberta, you may be wondering if this would affect your eligibility for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship or any other funding. This is important because it can mean the difference between being able to afford university or not.
For example, if you are a first-year student and your parents have moved to Alberta in the last 12 months, you are eligible for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship (as long as all other criteria are met).
However, if you’re a second-year student who has already been accepted into an undergraduate program at an eligible post-secondary institution (e.g., the University of Calgary or SAIT Polytechnic), then you may be entitled to receive an Alberta Centennial Bursary instead of a grant from AHSFRA.
Disbursement Of The Funds
Once a student’s application is approved and your enrollment is confirmed the Alberta Student Aid, will mail you a cheque for your approved scholarship amount.
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FAQs
Do I need to fill out a separate application?
You are not required to fill out a separate application. To be eligible for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship, you need to have the scholarship requirements including being a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, being a first-year full-time undergraduate student at an Alberta university, You need to have lived in Alberta for at least 12 months before going back to school.
Can I win any other Scholarships with this One?
The Alexander Rutherford Scholarship is a great way to kick off your scholarship search, but it’s not the only one. If you’re eligible for other scholarships, you can go ahead and apply; the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship does not stop you from receiving other scholarship grants.
Even if you don’t win the Rutherford Scholarship, there’s always a chance that another scholarship program will provide you with grants. If you’ve won another scholarship in addition to this one, don’t despair. They might just be different amounts of money or come from different organizations.
Can I use Green Certificate Courses for the Rutherford Scholarship Application?
The simple answer is Yes, Green Certificate courses can be used towards the scholarship as options for Grade 12. The green certificate courses may be taken in any order and must not be sequential. Any of the green certificate courses you take is coded as a 33 grade 12 level with all credits earned in the green certificate counting towards grade 12 graduation requirements.
For students in grades 10, 11, and 12 the green course allows them to take part in agriculture-related apprenticeship, while they also earn credits in the process when they complete the program. These students also complete the technician level of a green certificate, choosing from any of the nine specializations.
Can I upgrade or re-take a course through an Alberta high school to have my Rutherford Scholarship re-assessed?
Students are allowed to retake or rewrite courses to be able to get eligibility into the scholarship program as long as students complete such courses before taking a higher-level course or entering their post-secondary education.
Students should submit any revised marks or courses to Alberta education for a record to be kept and displayed on your official Alberta education Transcript of achievements in high school.
Is Alberta’s Home Education program eligible for the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship?
Even if you were home-educated you may be eligible for the scholarship provided your program follows the Alberta programs for study curriculum. If you receive home education you will require the following:
- Course evaluations and recommendations for credits from a high school principal
- An official Alberta Transcript of High School Achievement
If you require more information about the Alberta Programs of Study curriculum visit education.alberta.ca
Can college preparation or upgrading courses be used in the assessment for the Rutherford Scholarship?
You can upgrade courses recorded on an official Alberta Transcript of high school achievement, and use this for your scholarship application. Note that you may not use General Education Development (GED) for application for the scholarship.
Should I apply even if I am unsure I meet the required average?
Regardless of being sure if you meet the scholarship requirements you can still apply for the scholarship. Automatic assessment of academic average of grades 10, 11, and 12 is done by Alberta students Aid.
I need to make changes to my original application, what do I do?
If you need to make changes to your existing application, you have to notify Alberta student aid when that change is done, especially when you make changes to your address, delay post-secondary study, or change of educational institution of choice.
Conclusion
The Rutherford Scholarship is a great opportunity to get funding for your university education. But as we have seen here today, there is more to it than just showing up and collecting the cash. Several requirements must be met before you can even apply, so make sure you’re eligible, then fill out the application and submit it in time.
We hope this post has helped you to understand both the benefits and shortcomings of the scholarship program available to you. We have given you the information you need to make a fully-informed decision regarding your choice of program, and what you should do if you are chosen by the Alexander Rutherford Scholarship. Good luck in your studies, and try not to worry too much!.
