Last Updated: 29 August, 2022

Did you know that you can apply for scholarships, for studying in Canada? Yes you read it right, you can apply for a full or partial scholarship grant, which will reduce your tuition fees for higher education.

According to Scholarships Canada — which helps match students with available scholarships based on their profile — approximately $200 million in scholarships were listed last year on the organization’s database. Yet, about one in 20 had no applicants.

In Canada, domestic students can expect to pay an average of $6,693 annually for tuition, according to Statistics Canada. Factoring in the price of housing, transport, food and other expenses, the total cost each year could be up to three to four times that amount.

So here is what you should know, to apply for scholarships for studying in Canada.

Eligibility

Scholarships grants are available to everyone in Canada. Canadian Citizens, PR holders, and International Students, alike, so no matter whether you are planning to come to Canada to pursue higher education or already staying in Canada, you can apply for scholarships at Canadian Universities.

How to apply

A good starting point is to find out which college and university you want to attend, then check their respective websites, contact the financial aid section, and request information on how to apply for scholarships. Each college or university will have its own criteria, fill in the application and wait for a response.

https://www.educanada.ca has information on scholarships and other information and is a genuine source of information, for information on studying in Canada, you can also search for scholarships here.

“There’s never been a better time in history for students to win scholarships,” said scholarship coach Janet MacDonald, noting there are a wide variety of awards for different types of students and many of these bursaries have few, if any, applicants.

Documents you will need

Each college or university has its own criteria, usually, when you start the application you will be requested to provide those documents, like proof of English proficiency (IELTS), academic transcripts, proof of community service, other extracurricular activities, and the list can go on.

Each college or university has its own criteria for awarding scholarships, the documents they need may also differ from each other, so do not get frustrated.

You can also use services like https://www.scholarshipscanada.com which allow you to match your profile and search for scholarships all in one place.

You have to earn a scholarship, so you may have to apply to many places in order to land a scholarship which suits your plan of study and other criteria. The trick is to spend enough time applying for them all. Start applying early enough.

Grades are not the only criteria for getting scholarships, successfully, even with low academic grades, you can land a reasonable scholarship, so consistency is key here. Don’t give up, keep trying until you succeed.