AUPE Member Resource Centre 1-800-232-7284CONTACT US

Quick Exit

Bursaries and scholarships

AUPE has bursary money available for members to apply for as well as annual scholarship opportunities.

Bursary opportunities

AUPE maintains a Members' Education Assistance Fund, which is the responsibility of the Education Sub-Committee of the Members’ Benefits Committee.

Part-time bursaries

To be considered, you must be:

  • attending part-time studies as defined by the educational institution.
  • an AUPE member with one consecutive year of service at the date of application.
  • taking an accredited course that could be used toward a degree, diploma, or certificate
  • past member who enrolls part-time in an educational institution within the first twelve (12) months of job elimination through layoff or abolishment.

How to apply: Applications will be accepted between November 1 to November 30, 2025.
Download the application form here. 

Full-time bursaries

Bursary Type I (based on financial need)

To be considered, you must be:

  • attending full-time studies as defined by the institution.
  • members of AUPE with two (2) consecutive years service at the application deadline date and/or their spouse, and/or their financial dependents; and/or dependents of retired or deceased members for a period of one year.
  • there is no age limit for members, but dependents of members must be under 25 years of age at the time of the application deadline date.
  • past members who enroll full-time within the first year of job elimination

AUPE Local donations will be distributed as per the Type 1 Bursary guidelines.

How to apply: Applications closed.

Scholarship opportunities

Two (2) Brent Gawne Memorial Scholarships, each $2,000 &

Two (2) Mary Kehoe Memorial Scholarships, each $2,000

Two of the $2,000 scholarships are awarded to high school students entering their first year of post-secondary studies, and the other two $2,000 scholarships are awarded to post-secondary students.

To be considered, you must be:

  • attending full-time studies as defined by the institution.
  • a member of AUPE with two (2) consecutive years’ service at the time of application deadline date, and/or their spouse or financial dependents; and or dependents of retired or deceased members for a period of one year.
  • there is no age limit for members, but dependents of members applying must be 25 years of age and under at the time of the application deadline date.
  • past members who enroll full-time within the first year of job elimination.

How to apply: Applications closed. 

2025 Brent Gawne Memorial Scholarship winners

We are pleased to share the winning essays for the 2025 Brent Gawne Memorial Scholarship.

This year’s essay topic: Provincial Budgets Have Consequences

Public sector workers who belong to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees are likely the union members most affected by decisions of the provincial government. This becomes particularly evident with every new Session of the Legislature, when the Provincial Treasurer rises to table a Budget to guide government spending during the upcoming year. 

The budget released by Provincial Treasurer Nate Horner on February 27, 2025 is more than a set of figures. It is a planning document which reveals how the UCP government plans to deploy its resources to lead the province through the 2025-26 fiscal year. You are asked to research the budget and any related documents to predict how the spending decisions it contains could affect the AUPE membership, as well as the welfare of all Albertans. In a well-constructed essay of approximately 2,000 words, identify (i) which members of AUPE are most likely to be most affected and how, and (ii) relate these to the functions and services provided by the government to the citizens of Alberta that are most likely to be affected?

As with all assignments, your essay will be judged on style, clarity, evidence of research (footnotes, etc.), how well you support or substantiate your choices and positions, and whether you respond to all parts of this question. However, given the nature of this year’s assignment, the adjudicator will be asked to assign more than the usual weight to evidence of research on your part. Very little credit will be given to broad generalizations, personal opinions and rhetoric.

High School Winner:Budget 2025: How It Shapes the Future for AUPE Members and Public Services by Miranda Liu

Post-Secondary Winner: Provincial Budgets Have Consequences by Sharad Protiti  


2025 Mary Kehoe Memorial Scholarship winners


We are also pleased to share the winning essays for the 2025 Mary Kehoe Memorial Scholarship.

This year’s essay topic was: Occupational Health & Safety Committees

The report of the Commission on Occupational Health & Safety that Chairman Frederick Gale released in 1975 made it clear that mandatory joint worksite committees were key to the effectiveness of any occupational health & safety program.  In spite of this, the Occupational Health and Safety Act (SA 1976, c 40) passed by the Conservative government the following year stalled and watered down this recommendation. Instead of making joint worksite committees mandatory for all worksites of a certain size, as was the case in other Canadian jurisdictions, it left it up to the Alberta Cabinet to designate committees for only a few worksites. The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees responded to this shortcoming by hiring Alberta’s first full-time health & safety director to organize the Union’s own programs in the various sections of the membership. 

You are asked to conduct research and report on the state of affairs today as it relates to joint worksite occupational health & safety committees in the General Service as well as some of the other sections of AUPE’s membership. Be sure to begin your report by outlining the major aim of these committees as they relate to the vision that the Gale Commission advanced, before providing concrete evidence to show the extent to which this vision is being put into practice today.

As with all assignments, your essay will be judged on style, clarity, evidence of research (footnotes, etc.), how well you support or substantiate your choices and positions, and whether you respond to all parts of this question. However, given the nature of this year’s assignment, the adjudicator will be asked to assign more than the usual weight to evidence of research on your part. Very little credit will be given to broad generalizations, personal opinions and rhetoric.

High School Winner: Essential Advocacy for Worker Safety – The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and the Gale Report by Gavin Piecowye

Post-Secondary Winner: Occupational Health & Safety Committees: Realizing the Vision of the Gale Commission in Alberta’s Public Services by Masroor Posh
 

Institution-based bursaries

Please note that the following information is separate from the Full-Time and Part-Time AUPE Bursary Applications discussed above.

Background: AUPE and Alberta Advanced Education established endowment funds jointly in 1986/87. These endowment funds are administered by the educational institutions on behalf of AUPE. Application forms are available at the educational institutions and completed applications must be returned to the institution. Please note the deadline date varies by institution.

AUPE members and/or their dependents can apply for the institution-based AUPE Bursary if they are attending one of the following post-secondary institutions.  Please click on institution’s name below for further information, including deadlines.

Eligible Institutions

Universities

Technical Institutes

  • NAIT – 780-491-3056
  • SAIT – 1-877-284-7248

Colleges

False