Long hours with heads buried in books and shorter hours socialising have finally paid off for 222 Otago secondary school pupils.
They will start tertiary study next year with healthier bank accounts, after receiving a share of about $2.5million worth of scholarships from the University of Otago.
During the next three years, 29 pupils will receive academic excellence scholarships worth up to $40,000 each, and 22 will receive performance scholarships worth $16,000 each.
A further 33 will receive Maori and Pacific peoples' scholarships worth $10,000 each, 13 will receive alumni scholarships ($6000 each), 117 will receive leaders of tomorrow scholarships ($6000 each), and eight will receive ``other'' scholarships ($6000 each).
A University of Otago spokeswoman said the leaders of tomorrow scholarship total included 28 pupils who were recipients of Otago Daily Times Class Act Awards.
She said the scholarships were to be used to meet the costs of accommodation in a residential college and/or the payment of fees.
Any remaining sum was generally paid to the recipient as a monthly stipend.
``The above total does not include the new frontiers scholarship, which is provided as of right to non-health sciences first year students who have achieved either or both of NCEA levels 2 and 3 with excellence endorsed, and who have not received any other scholarship.
``The numbers qualifying for this scholarship will not be known until next year, once NCEA level 3 results are released.''
She said the university awarded scholarships to school leavers across the country, but was unable to give a complete breakdown of scholarship costs because the information was ``commercially sensitive''.
