Post secondary education sounds daunting for some and the price even more so. It is one of the first big steps a student will make. Choosing a program of study, studying at another school, making new friends, sometimes moving away from home to a different city and even country in some cases. For parents, many of you have gone through post secondary education and benefiting the rewards of the experience. But it’s very different when you’re trying to “direct” your children towards this path and also try to finance it. In many cases, the experience the student is looking for doesn’t quite match up with the financial plan, you, the parent may have in place. There are any ways to overcome this conundrum. Scholarships and grants can be a way to bridge the gap. Below are a few ways to help finance post secondary education. There is saved money, “free money”, and loans – money to be paid back.
SAVED MONEY
Savings
Savings can be anything from gifts of money from family, money earned during summer jobs, anything. This is probably the surest way to finance post secondary education. However, it’s not always the most feasible.
RESP
A Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is a special savings account for parents who want to save for their child’s education after high school. This is an option that requires some planning and saving slowly over time. But it is a great way to save money for your child’s education and the sooner you start, the more there is available when the time comes. There are some additions type payments that may be possible to apply for with an RESP. For example the Canadian Education Saving Grant, Additional Canada Education Savings Grant (A-CESG), Canada Learning Bond and Provincial Education savings incentives. All of these can be found below as related information for the RESP.
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/education/education-savings/resp.html
Before looking at where to find places to apply for scholarships, bursaries, grants and loans, let’s take a look at some of the main differences between each.
FREE MONEY
What is a bursary?
A bursary is an award or money that is made by an educational institution or some organization to an individual or group. The purpose of the award is to help students who might not be able to otherwise, attend school, university or college. Depending on the award, the award may be to encourage specific groups or individuals study.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bursary
What is a grant?
A grant is a non-repayable fund or product given by one organization to another. A common example of grants is when university professors or researchers apply for grants for a particular research project. In many cases to receive a grant, some sort of proposal or application is required. This process is usually called “grant writing”. Grants can also be given to individuals such as victims of a natural disaster, or for those opening a small business. An example may be funding for a highway which is a very large grant negotiated at the government level. Smaller project related funding may involve businesses, communities, individuals and usually involve an application of some kind,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_(money)
What is a scholarship?
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further their education. This could be at the elementary, middle or secondary school level; private or public post secondary college or university or other academic institution. A scholarship is usual awarded based on some kind of merit. For example, academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, financial need, among others or some combination of these. While scholarships are not required to be paid back, the recipient of the award may be required to maintain certain requirements throughout the duration of the scholarship. For example, a certain grade point average, continuing in a certain activity such as a sports team, or serving as a teaching assistant. Scholarships may be in the form or a monetary award or an in-kind award e.g. waiving of tuition fees, housing or tuition fees or a combination. Some scholarships are renewable over a period of time provided these certain requirements are maintained.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholarship
LOAN
What is a loan?
Student loans are a very common way to pay for post secondary education but it is just that, a loan. This means it will have to be paid back. In some cases, this may be the only way to get a start in post secondary education and that’s alright. These student loans are to help students live during the period of post secondary education. For example, tuition, books, supplies, living expenses. It may be different from other loans in that the interest rate may be lower, the repayment schedule may be deferred while the student is studying. In different countries there will be other laws and regulations related to the loan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_financial_aid_(Canada)
In Canada, the federal government funds the Canada Student Loan Program, CSLP, and provinces may also fund their own programs. Canadian banks offer commercial loans geared towards students in professional programs.
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/canada-student-loans-grants.html
Provincial Government Student Aid by Province
Alberta
https://studentaid.alberta.ca/
British Columbia
Manitoba
https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/msa/
Ontario
https://www.ontario.ca/page/osap-ontario-student-assistance-program
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
https://www.gov.nl.ca/education/studentaid/
North West Territories
https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/student-financial-assistance
Nova Scotia
https://novascotia.ca/studentassistance/
Nunavut
https://gov.nu.ca/family-services/programs-services/financial-assistance-nunavut-students-fans
Prince Edward Island
https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/en/topic/student-loans-bursaries-grants-and-awards
Quebec
https://www.quebec.ca/en/education/student-financial-assistance
Saskatchewan
https://www.saskatchewan.ca/residents/education-and-learning/student-loans
Yukon
https://yukon.ca/en/financial-support-for-students
Scholarships and Grants
The remainder of this post will present some places to find scholarships, grants and bursaries that are available to high school students considering post secondary education here in Canada. Even if you are not sure about university or if you’re planning a gap year before going to university, it’s worth taking an hour or so to peruse through the different scholarships offered. If for no other reason to see what’s out there because there is a good chance you may forget once you start planning for university. In particular, make note of deadlines and eligibility requirements.
This site is great. It provides information on Canadian student loans, Canadian student grants, provincial student loans, scholarships and bursaries and even work-study programs. It’s a great starting place to get some information about what is out there in terms of financial assistance for students.
https://www.campusaccess.com/financial-aid/
Scholarship portal provides a list of scholarships for various countries including Canada. For Canada there are currently 760 scholarships listed. It provides the value of the scholarships, the level of study the scholarship is for and the date. I have noticed that the “View Scholarships” button doesn’t seem to connect to anymore information so my suggestion is to google the name of the scholarship to get more details and information on the applications process for the given scholarship.
https://www.scholarshipportal.com/scholarships/canada
OUInfo is a site that provide information on Ontario University for Ontario high school student. Information about university programs, admission requirements and more can be found here. These scholarships listed here are primarily available to high school students from Ontario, Canada, applying to first-year university.
https://www.ontariouniversitiesinfo.ca/scholarships
TD has some scholarships available to high school students entering post secondary education. These scholarships are based on community leaderships. Take some time to see if you qualify and/or take the time to apply.
TD kindly provides a few other resources for grants and scholarships in Canada outside of their organization.
The Loran Scholarship. This is a very interesting scholarships and is unique in that its attention it to the person’s character. The value of the scholarship is $100000 over 4 years of study at one of 25 partner universities. This value incudes mentorship, summer internships, networks. Each year a certain number of Loran Scholarships are awarded but there are also a number of runner up scholarships that are awarded as well. More can be found out about this scholarship below.
https://loranscholar.ca/becoming-a-scholar/
This site, universitystudy.ca, is published by Universities Canada. There is an extensive list of Canadian Universities that can be searched by province or university name; there is a database of programs of study if you’re not sure what university to go to. This is great, because not all universities offer the same programs and some universities specialize in certain areas and programs. But they also have a wonderful database of scholarships. I have included a link to this database directly below.
Database of scholarships: This database is great because it lets you choose the field of study, level of study, whether it’s for a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, US citizen or international student. The deadline of application and value of the scholarship is provided and a link to more details of the scholarship is also provided.
https://scholarships.universitystudy.ca/
Scholarships ads is another online platform with scholarships from around the world.
https://www.scholarshipsads.com/category/city/ontario/
The Council of Ontario Universities has a list of 20 publicly supported universities in Ontario. There are a few awards provided by this group but at a graduate level of study. While high school students may not be eligible immediately, in the future, this could be a resource to look at for financial assistance for graduate studies. (graduate studies)
https://cou.ca/resources/awards/
Featured scholarships and also a list of scholarships organized by province. The search for scholarships is not the greatest here but the scrolling through scholarships may be worth it.
https://ontarioscholarships.ca/
Many scholarships offered across the country. They are organized by province, category, deadline (this is very useful), university and there are also scholarships for international students.
https://scholarship-grants.org/category/scholarships-in-ontario/
Another site for Ontario universities. However, the focus is more on application process. They have a short article on financial assistance and scholarships, but this is not their focus. (application information)
https://www.ouac.on.ca/faq/financial-assistance-and-scholarships/
There are a few options of scholarships and bursaries found here. In particular the,
Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS)
Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST) Program (Graduate studies)
There is more information of the value, eligibility, applications deadlines, participating universities and more.
https://www.ontario.ca/page/student-loans-grants-scholarships-and-bursaries#section-2
This is another database of scholarships for Canada. You can search for scholarships or choose to get “matched” up to scholarships.
https://www.scholarshipscanada.com/
These entrance scholarships at the university of New Brunswick offered to high school students. All the requirements and deadlines can be found below.
https://www.unb.ca/moneymatters/scholarships/highschool.html
University of Windsor scholarships for high school students applying to university.
Scholarships for students entering or at Dawson’s college.
The Toronto District School Board provides a number of resources for students applying for scholarships. Including some good information on common mistakes when applying for scholarships; how to win certain scholarships, in particular the TD Scholarship for Community Leadership and the Loran Scholarship. A page of resources worth checking out.
https://schoolweb.tdsb.on.ca/avondalesa/Scholarships
Ancaster High Secondary School has done a nice job putting together a list of scholarships for high school students by deadline date.
https://www.hwdsb.on.ca/ancasterhigh/student-services/scholarships/scholarships-by-month/#March
Another list of Canadian scholarships including deadline date. Requirements, amount and a link to more information is also provided.
Another list of scholarships resources for high school students. Some of the resources in this list can be found above, but there are a few others.
https://www.lrsd.net/schools/JHB/ProgramsAndServices/Documents/Scholarship%20Resources.pdf
Another list of Canadian Scholarships provided by Wolf Creek Public School. Some of the scholarships have the application deadline date as well as eligibility criteria and a link to more information.
https://www.wolfcreek.ab.ca/career-centre/scholarships/national-scholarships
Most of the information provided above has been scholarships for Canadian university and for students in Canadian high school. We haven’t looked at any scholarships for international students looking to study in a university in Canada. Below is one site that provides a list of some Canadian scholarships for international students. Scholarships for international students coming to study I a Canadian university, is definitely a separate post!
https://www.studyinternational.com/news/scholarships-in-canada/
This list above is by no means an exhaustive list of scholarships and other types of funding for students entering post secondary education. Keep checking back as we add more scholarships and funding sites and resources for parents and students. If you have any questions or want some guidance applying for scholarships, getting more information etc. send us a note info@raisemymarks.com We’re happy to help.
