By Lincoln DePradine

A second Ontario college has thrown its support behind a program that offers assistance to Canadian students of Caribbean ancestry.

Last year, Seneca Polytechnic reached an agreement with the Council of Caribbean Associations-Canada (CCAC), which has had a scholarship and bursary program in place for a dozen years.

Under the agreement, Seneca Polytechnic is offering a full tuition-paid scholarship for a student to attend Seneca for up to four years, with a value of up to $6,000 per year.

CCAC has announced that, beginning this year, George Brown College also is offering a similar full-tuition paid scholarship. It, too, is valued at $6,000 annually for up to four years.

CCAC secretary Ingrid King said 43 students — a record number for the group — submitted applications this year to receive scholarships and bursaries.

“These applications will be adjudicated by a panel of persons on the selection committee, and the successful applicants will be presented with their certificates and cheques,” she said.

CCAC, founded in 2009, is a registered non-profit umbrella organization comprising 14 Caribbean national associations in the Greater Toronto Area.

The financial help, provided through the scholarship and bursary program, is for young people — no older than 24 — of Caribbean descent that are pursuing full-time studies leading up to their first diploma or degree.

Applicants are required to write an essay explaining why they should be selected for student aid, and should “demonstrate active involvement in the community or engagement in extracurricular school activities’’.

When launched in 2012, the scholarship and bursary program benefitted two students, who each received $1,000.

The cash value this year, including the contributions from George Brown College and Seneca Polytechnic, is $63,000.

The awards will include five bursaries of up to $3,000.

Of the five, one is sponsored by Pine Ridge Memorial Gardens — a longtime CCAC program supporter.  Two are sponsored by CCAC; and another two are “Loved Ones Bursaries”, which are named in honour of Gideon Exeter, a former CCAC president, and the late Lionel Bedessee, founder of Bedessee Imports Ltd.

“The CCAC is grateful to all those who have sponsored and contributed to the success of the program so far, and looks forward to assisting more students in 2025 and beyond,” said King.

The council’s scholarship and bursary presentation ceremony will be held virtually on Sunday, November 17, with plans to include students, who are past recipients, explaining how their tertiary education was aided with CCAC tuition assistance.