The RRU Awards Adjudication Process

So Who Makes Award Decisions Anyway?

When you submit an awards application at RRU, do you wonder who sees it and makes the tough decisions?  For proactive disclosure, transparency, and a little bit of professional pride, we’d like to tell you how awards work behind the scenes.

The awards adjudication process at RRU strives to reward the most eligible students with the most appropriate awards, based on the information provided in an application and eligibility rules put forth by the funder. 

And this is how it works!

From the time a competition closes to the time winners are selected and all the administrative tasks are complete, it takes about a month; perhaps a little longer for externally funded awards like the Federal research grants.

1.      Applications are screened for eligibility by Financial Aid & Awards staff. We remove extra pages and filter out clearly ineligible applications. 

2.      Qualified applications are forwarded to the appropriate nomination selection panel who independently review and rank candidates. They review each application form for each award and select their first, second, and third placements.

3.      Individual rankings are submitted to Financial Aid & Awards who assigns a score where each top candidate gets a score of 3, second gets a 2, and third place gets a 1. Scores are tallied.

4.      The panel meets as a group to review the cumulative high-score candidates and then finalize nominations through consensus agreement. In rare situations where the committee cannot come to an agreement, the top applications are sent to the alternate committee for decision.

5.      Nominations for RRU-funded awards are forwarded to the Awards Committee for final approval.

6.      Congratulations and regrets emails are sent to applicants.

7.      Certificates with letters for Award recipients are mailed. Bursary recipients will not receive a certificate or official letter because addressing financial need is a private matter.

8.      Funding is credited to successful applicants’ accounts to pay for upcoming tuition fees.

It is important to note that…

Late applications are never accepted out of fairness to other candidates and respect for our administrative time/process.

While the Financial Aid & Awards team drives every step of administration, we do not hold voting rights to maintain an impartial process.

There is no limit to the number of awards one student may receive; however, if there are two front-runners in a competition, the panel may choose to “spread the love” and nominate the candidate who hasn’t yet received an award.

Candidates may be screened out for having excessive financial need. For example, a candidate showing more than $10,000 in financial need may be removed from a competition offering a $500 bursary. The chances of that student "making it" is slim with a $500 bursary. That same candidate will not be removed from a bursary competition for $7,000.

Panel members seriously respect dignity and confidentiality.

The who’s who of RRU awards…

There are a number of staff and faculty from a variety of departments involved in the awarding of awards at RRU.

The Awards Committee, a sub-committee of Academic Council, oversees the design of the awards programs, provides input into the creation of new awards, and officially approves award nominations for RRUs awards. There are four members: two appointed by the Chair of Academic Council, of whom a minimum of one will be a faculty member on Academic Council, plus the Manager, Student Success, and the Vice President, Communications and Advancement. The Chair is selected from its membership by the committee.

• Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor, College of Interdisciplinary Studies
• Lynn Gregg, Associate Registrar and Manager, Office of the Registrar
• Heba Dakhlallah, student member
  
• Gwen Campden, Associate Director, Student Success (non-voting Chair)

The Awards Adjudication Panel reports to the Awards Committee and is responsible for selecting Entrance and In-Course award recipients. The panel consists of seven members per award: a faculty and staff member from each Faculty, and the head of the Financial Aid & Awards unit (non-voting chair).

Rachel and Ernest Fox Loan Committee members are:

• Associate Director, Student Success: Gwen Campden
• Student Accounts Manager: Rhona Kerr
  
• Tie Breaker/Appeals: Ad hoc member agreed upon by above Managers

Emergency Funding and as-needed funding programs for Indigenous students are adjudicated on a weekly basis. Panel members are:

• Associate Director, Student Success: Gwen Campden
• Relevant manager or higher ranking staff or faculty member: Ad hoc, depending on applicant's situation. Usually Director, Student Services, Kyla McLeod
  
• Tie Breaker/Appeals:Ad hoc and agreed upon by above Managers