Thirty lucky CNC students each got a $1,000 prize on Tuesday.
CNC's Open the Doors Contest, hosted by the college's faculty association, gives students an opportunity to put their winnings toward their student debt load.
"The idea of this is to call attention to the chronic underfunding of post-secondary education today," said Deborah Collette, past president of the association and current faculty member at the college's nursing school.
"And with an upcoming election, it's about raising student awareness as education can't be starved anymore," Collette said.
Current faculty association president Bill Deutch was thrilled to hand out the winnings after recently visiting with students from various CNC campuses across northern B.C.
"I listened to all of their aspirations at CNC but I also heard the hardships and challenges students are faced with in achieving their educational goals," Deutch said.
The contest invited students to submit an essay or video highlighting their goals at CNC, economic barriers faced and obstacles to overcome during their studies.
One of the winners, A.J. Bailey, was the first to collect his $1,000 prize.
"This was a nice treat," Bailey said.
Bailey, an English student, is hoping to pursue a degree in journalism in the future.
With skyrocketing fees, many students like Bailey are faced with high debt loads.
"The Open the Doors Contest is about raising public awareness on how immobilizing paying for education has become," said George Davison, president of the Federation of Post-Secondary Educators.
Davison represents over 10,000 faculty and staff in colleges, universities, private sectors and ESL schools in British Columbia.
"It's also about raising awareness about the upcoming provincial election as this will decide who will have the authority in the areas of accessible and affordable post secondary education," Davison said.
"This is my home institution and it's great to be back. But I've seen a lot of changes. We used to run 19 sections of history programs at the school and now there are only four."
With an increased push in trades and health sciences, these changes aren't anything new in many colleges and universities throughout B.C.
"Many university programs in places like Smithers have been cancelled. This means that students have to travel much further for post-secondary education," Davison said.
And with a May 9 provincial election coming up, for Simka Marshall, chairperson of the B.C. Federation of Students, it's all about getting the message to vote across to her fellow students.
"The average student is $35,000 in debt in B.C. today," Marshall said. "Being able to collaborate with faculty allows us to better tackle these issues."
B.C. had the highest youth voter turnout in the last federal election in October 2015.
