As a busy mom of four attending school and working full time, Kathy Rintoul is no stranger to rising above difficult circumstances. She wasn’t prepared, however, for a global pandemic that saw her husband being sent home from his new job for days at a time, unpaid.
Working hard to save for tuition and textbooks for the second year of the Human Service Worker diploma program, Kathy was devastated when COVID-19 threw a financial wrench in her plans. The availability of financial awards through the College was a ray of light in a dark time.
As a recipient of the Erasing Barriers Fund for Applied Education, Kathy’s dreams of completing her education became a reality, and she couldn’t be more grateful.
“It made a huge impact and came at such a good time,” she said. “I had a very rough school year, balancing my studies and my job. I also suffered both a concussion and a neck injury during the year, as well as a family tragedy, so it felt really good to know that I was being supported through my hard times. The money I received will go toward my tuition and books for the second year of my program, so I am very thankful!”
Despite everything, Kathy completed the first year of the Human Service Worker program with straight A’s and is looking forward to continuing her program in fall 2021. She recommends that other students also take the few minutes needed to apply for scholarships and bursaries when they become available.
“You never know what may happen in life,” she said. “I thought nothing could go wrong and it did. Education is very important, and scholarships are a blessing for those who need them to be able to attend school.”
Kathy is filled with tremendous gratitude for the donors that made her financial award possible.
“I don’t believe thank you covers how I feel,” she said. “This award came when I was going through a lot of hardship and it felt really good to be acknowledged for the difficulties I was experiencing and how I persevered and came out strong. It’s not too often that people get rewarded in those situations. I was stressing out as I was unsure how I would get tuition, so this was a huge blessing. Thank you!”
College of the Rockies’ scholarships, bursaries, and awards can be found on our Financial Aid and Awards webpage.