INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / APRIL 11, 1989

Hagen Announces Increased Allowances for Students

Minister of Advanced Educa- tion and Job Training, Stan Hagen, announced on April 4 in- creases in the maximum assistance available to in- dividual students under the British Columbia Student Assis- tance Program.

Hagen also said the program will be restructured so that assis- tance will be calculated on a weekly basis rather than on the basis of the school term. The new structure allows for equi-

table allocation of funding to students participating in longer programs.

Under the new structure the weekly maximum allowance for room and board will increase from $125 per week to $135 per week. Weekly allowances for transportation will also be in- creased.

Total maximum benefits per week will be $200 for ap- plicants without dependents, $300 for students with depend-

Choral Concert Continued

music that is appealing to all ages--especially families."

Loomer, who is a professor of music at Douglas College, also directs the award-winning women’s choir Elektra, one of the Van- couver Bach Children’s Choirs and is assistant director of the

Vancouver Bach Choir.

Her enthusiasm for music is passed on to her community choir members which she describes as "a remarkable group with a fabulous spirit. They sing for the love and joy of music and for sharing it with

others."

Enthusiasm in the Amabilis Singers is also reflected in the wide age span of its members. The youngest is 15. The oldest is 75. In the Youth/Children’s Choir, the youngest is six, the oldest 14.

Loomer does offer one warning about the concert:

“Each year this concert is very popular--so I’d suggest getting your tickets in advance. It’s almost always a sell-out."

The concert starts at 8 p.m. in the Douglas College Performance

Theatre.

Tickets are $6 general and $4 for children and seniors. For further information and ticket reservations, call the Douglas College box of- fice at 520-5488, or Cathy Friesen at 522-0224.

ents. This assistance is avail- able to students as repayable loans or, where the student is eligible, as a combination of loan funds and non-repayable assistance.

"These increases, effective August 1, 1989, will greatly im- prove the funding available to individual students and allows our student financial assistance program to solidify its position as one of the best in Canada," Hagen said.

The following is an outline of the percentage increase to an- nual entitlements achieved by the re-structuring of the finan- cial assistance programs and by the increases to transportation and maintenance allowances:

1988/89 1989/90 % Increase

Maximum benefits over 34 weeks

$6,200 $6,800 9.7% Maximum benefits over 52 weeks 8,150 10,400 27.6%

Maximum benefits over 34 weeks

8,400 10,200 21.4% Maximum benefits over 52 weeks 9,350 15,600 66.8%

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