Aboriginal Scholars

The North Island College Aboriginal Scholars program is a holistic and culturally-relevant program for Indigenous students. The program strives to empower students through engaging them in the process of creating a self-constructed achievement plan, ensuring students have supports to enable them to complete their program, while also increasing the sense of community and Aboriginal awareness on campus.

David Dawson, NIC Human Services diploma graduate
NIC’s Aboriginal Scholar program has provided me connections to a wide variety of supports and services that I would not have known existed. My advisor pushed me to take on new challenges, both on campus and off. Having made these new connections, I am now a student leader and honing my business skills on the Education Council, Planning and Standards Committee and Curriculum Committee. Without NIC’s Aboriginal Scholar program, none of this would have been possible.
Christopher Scarlatti
NIC business student




How it works

Students work with an Aboriginal educational advisor to create an achievement plan, based on their individual needs. The goals can be academic, spiritual, emotional and/or physical, with the overall aim of supporting students and providing life skills to help them during their educational journey and beyond.

The students work with their advisor throughout the term to keep on track and also access services and supports that will help them achieve their goals.

Students can apply for one term or the entire academic year. At the end of each term, successful students will earn a $250 scholarship.

Examples of Supports

Supports can include, but are not limited to:

Intellectual Supports Emotional Supports Spiritual Supports Physical Supports
Study skills and exam preparation Counsellors Elders in Residence Financial Aid, such as:
  • Student loans
  • Aboriginal Emergency Fund
Counsellor sessions/ workshops Elders in Residence On-campus events Department of Accessible Learning
Faculty Meetings Community events Educational Advising
Peer Tutoring Smudging/ Cedar Brushing Physical/ Recreational Activities
Writing and Math support Bursaries & Scholarships
Students interested in the Aboriginal Scholars program should contact Indigenous Navigators at indigenousnavigators@nic.bc.ca.

RBC and the RBC Foundation

The Aboriginal Scholars program is made possible thanks to support from RBC and the RBC Foundation. Royal Bank of Canada is Canada’s largest bank, and one of the largest banks in the world, based on market capitalization. We are one of North America’s leading diversified financial services companies and provide personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor services and capital markets products and services on a global basis. We have approximately 81,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than 16 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the U.S. and 35 other countries. For more information, please visit rbc.com.‎

RBC helps communities prosper, supporting a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. For more information, visit www.rbc.com/community-social-impact/index.html.

Donation announcement

RBC gives $50,000 to support Aboriginal students at NIC