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UBC president announces $100M in student financial support

UBC-O welcomed their incoming students in a big way
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UBC president and vice-chancellor Santa Ono was very excited to announce newly injected dollars into student scholarships and financial support systems at the Tuesday, Sept. 3, Okanagan campus orientation day.

“You are the very first people in the world to hear this announcement; I hope you are pumped,” Ono said.

Two women joined the president on stage with a yellow banner as Ono walked to nearby chairs and asked people how much money they thought would be announced. Then, the banner began to unroll the zeros.

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“$1,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000, 10,000,000 –” Ono announced over a raucous gymnasium, “no, we raised 100 million-more dollars.”

Following the $100M investment announcement, Ono revealed UBC-Okanagan will commit to raising another $100M to help students cover the costs of school. Ono and UBC-Okanagan mascot, Scorch, high-fived.

Once the kickoff event completed, students join their faculty groups where they had opportunities to make new friends, meet their professors, tour the campus, ask any last-minute questions and begin their post-secondary career.

The Okanagan branch of UBC will hosts a total of 9,935 students, about 81 per cent domestic 20 per cent international, with 102 countries represented by international students, according to the UBC-O facts and figures webpage.



David Venn
Reporter, Kelowna Capital News
Email me at david.venn@kelownacapnews.com
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