Aboriginal students struggling to complete their education at Parkland Regional College in Yorkton are being given a hand through a new partnership between the college, the Yorkton Tribal Council and the provincial government.

Over the next five years, $300,000 dollars in scholarships will be made available to students from the Yorkton Tribal Council.

The director of operations for the tribal council Pat Thompson says the students want to succeed and the scholarships will help them do this.

“They want to be part of the booming economy,” she says. “We want to make sure that we can support them and that they’re successful and achieving some of their goals.

The scholarships are awarded based on a number of criteria including grades, ambition and personal supports.

About 40 per cent of the students at Parkland College are Aboriginal.

The Yorkton Tribal Council is providing $150,000 thousand dollars for scholarships with the province matching this.