Beverley Simpson’s mother always wanted her to go to university. A widow without much money for luxuries, she told her two daughters that education was of the utmost importance.
But when her mother became terminally ill, Beverley Simpson was forced to drop out of the University of Toronto.
“I thought that that was it—that I wouldn’t be able to do university studies, and then when I found out about Woodsworth, it gave me that second chance I didn’t think I’d ever have,” said Beverley.
Beverley ended up going to the U of T law school, and is now a high-powered lawyer. Her husband is vice-chair of the University of Toronto’s governing council after having retired from his position as vice-president and director of Global Strategy Financial Inc.
“The University of Toronto was a big, big part of both of our lives. That’s how we met,” said Beverley. Tom helped start the newspaper that became the Independent and was involved with the Student Administrative Council. Beverley was involved with the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS) and they both took part in governing council.
“We wanted to be able to give the same opportunities to students who might not have had them otherwise,” Tom Simpson said in a statement. And so the Simpsons have donated $1 million for single parents, mature students and graduate students in the humanities and social sciences.
The bulk of the money—$700,000—will establish the Thomas and Beverley Simpson Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) and be matched by the university and the provincial government. It will fund 10 scholarships for graduate students in the humanities and four scholarships for graduate students in the social sciences. It is expected each scholarship will be a minimum of $15,000 a year. A further $180,000 will build scholarships in the Transitional Year Programme while $100,000 will be directed towards a graduate achievement award for single parents at Woodsworth College. These donations will be matched by the university.
Support for part-time undergrads needs to become a priority at the university, said David Melville, treasurer for the Association of Part-Time Undergraduate Students (APUS) and a member of the governing council for part-time undergraduates.
“Part-time undergraduates form a third of total undergrads in the arts and sciences and these students have very limited financial opportunity for support,” he said.
Despite having recognized burdens (including family, work, unemployment, health concerns), part-time students are not eligible for tuition relief “other than very limited amounts,” he added, explaining that “OSAP cannot help them if they are taking less than 3 courses.”
Without government support, part-time students are often stuck taking out bank or credit card loans, which leaves them in a worse positions than full-time students, explained Emily Sadowski, acting president for APUS. While very appreciative of the donation, she adds that governments and the university need to increase bursaries, lower tuition and address the inequity faced by part-timers. Beverley hopes that the scholarship would not only support humanities students, who usually are overlooked in favour of sciences, but also students who have financial difficulties.
“I’m glad to see that U of T has developed a policy where anyone who goes to U of T doesn’t have to leave for financial reasons,” said Beverley, “but at the end of they day they’re still probably faced with a pretty high debt load…I hope more people will give for that reason.”
