3.4 Impact of The SSA Scholarship Opportunity

A key objective of the SSA Scholarship Winner Survey was to ascertain the following:

• how and when did SSA scholarship winners first find out about the scholarship opportunity;
• did respondents feel that the scholarship was a valuable incentive;
• did knowing of the SSA scholarship have any positive effect on SSA winners;
• what did scholarship winners use their money for and was the scholarship amount sufficient to assist them in their career plans?

Most scholarship winners first heard about the scholarship opportunity from a teacher. Over six in ten (65.5%) reported that they learned of the scholarship opportunity from a teacher (e.g., CAPP teacher, counselor or other teacher). A notable proportion (19.5%) indicated that they first heard of the scholarship opportunity from their apprenticeship counselor.

Scholarship winners learned of the scholarship opportunity at different points in their program. As highlighted in Table 3-4A, when SSA scholarship winners were asked when they first heard about the scholarship opportunity, approximately half reported that they did not hear of the scholarship opportunity until halfway or later in the program (41.4%) or until graduation (9.2%). Just under half first heard about the scholarship opportunity when they first learned of SSA (31.0%) or when they were applying for admission to the program (14.9%).

Table 3-4A
Point at Which First Heard of the Scholarship Opportunity

Point learned of scholarship opportunity	number of respondents (n)	Percent of respondents (%)
Halfway or later in program	36	41.4%
When first learned of program	27	31.0%
At application time	13	14.9%
At graduation	8	9.2%
Don’t know/Other	3	3.4%
Total	87	100%

Almost all SSA scholarship winners felt the scholarship opportunity was a valuable incentive and over half indicated that knowing of the scholarship opportunity had positive influences on them. For example, respondents were asked to indicate the extent to which the scholarship opportunity positively influenced the following:

• their study habits;
• their work habits;
• their interest in becoming an apprentice;
• the decision to continue their apprenticeship;
• their school grades.

As highlighted in Chart 3-4A, just under six in ten (57.5%) respondents reported that the scholarship opportunity positively impacted their work habits either to some or to a great extent and 56.3% of scholarship winners felt the scholarship opportunity positively affected their study habits to some or to a great extent.

Chart 3-4A
Positive Impacts of the SSA Scholarship Opportunity

n=87

Virtually all (97.7%) SSA scholarship winners surveyed reported that the scholarship was a valuable incentive for students.

Most winners used their scholarship award for work/school materials and most were satisfied with the amount of the scholarship award. For example:

• as highlighted in Chart 3-4B, 44.8% of scholarship winners indicated that they used their scholarship award to help purchase equipment or other materials for work;

• approximately one-third (33.3%) of scholarship winners indicated that their scholarship monies went towards books and/or travel required as part of their apprenticeship;

• only one in ten reported that their scholarship award went towards living expenses (11.5%).

Chart 3-4B
Primary Use of SSA Scholarship Award

n=87

• When asked whether or not they felt the amount of the scholarship was sufficient to assist them in their career plans, the vast majority (80.5%) indicated that it was.

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