With dreams of becoming a novelist or a playwright, Acacia Cousins, 18, moved from her hometown in West Kelowna to study writing with a minor in professional writing in journalism and publishing at the University of Victoria (UVic).
Financing a post-secondary is no small undertaking. Undergraduate tuition alone at UVic is estimated to be nearly $7,000 for one year. So, when it came time to explore funding opportunities, Acacia applied for multiple scholarships, including CNIB’s scholarship program.
“I really appreciated that CNIB’s scholarship application was both accessible and very straightforward. It wasn't intimidating at all,” says Acacia. “While it’s one application, there are many different scholarships that applicants are considered for, which is great!”
While adjusting to university life was “a big change,” the $3,000 scholarship she received from CNIB enabled Acacia to concentrate on her studies. She used the funds to pay for residence and living expenses, like groceries. The financial support also allowed her to dedicate her first semester entirely to adjusting to university life without having to work part-time.
“Everything takes me just a bit longer to complete because of my vision, so removing the added pressure of going to school and having to work outside of that gave me the extra time I needed to focus on my studies,” says Acacia. “That, in turn, allowed me to focus on adjusting to my course work, meeting new people, orienting myself to a new environment, and all the things that come from being in a new place.”
She says one of the biggest challenges she had to overcome in her first year of studies was finding new ways to optimize her learning, especially keeping up with all the reading.
“The amount of written text was definitely kind of a shock,” she says. “I had sort of been resistant to accessing audio versions of materials (like audio books or audio resources), but because of the sheer amount of materials I had to read this year, I started using audio formats. So that was a big change, but a positive one.”
After completing her first year of studies, Acacia says she’s already learned so much from the experience.
“Education exposes you to so many new things, like other people’s experiences and perspectives, that you wouldn't have otherwise been forced to consider before.”
Beyond the financial support, Acacia adds that CNIB’s scholarship program is so important to the community because: “It shows us what’s possible.”