It’s well known that a post-secondary education can be expensive; consider the cost, for example, of tuition, textbooks, and transportation or living on campus. It’s also well known that a post-secondary education is a prerequisite for many jobs and can be a very rewarding experience.
Scholarships are a helpful way to financially support students who want to pursue a post-secondary education. The following resources can help students – and the career practitioners who support them – identify, find and apply for scholarships for Canadian post-secondary programs.
Supporting a student in their scholarship search? Don’t miss this CareerWise article from Janet MacDonald: “Any student can get a scholarship – if they know when to look.”
Resources
DisabilityAwards.ca
This website, created by the National Educational Association for Disabled Students (NEADS), aims to help students with disabilities find scholarships. Students can filter scholarships by disability, province or deadline.
ScholarshipsCanada.com
ScholarshipsCanada.com, part of the SchoolFinder group, has been helping students find scholarships since 1997. Students can search the site for scholarships or create a free profile so the site can match them with relevant scholarships. ScholarshipsCanada.com also offers a resource section with tips to consider when applying for scholarships, articles about alternate financing, FAQs and virtual tours of many well-known schools.
Scholarships (Government of Canada)
This landing page from the Government of Canada features links to undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships (as well as awards and bursaries). An Indigenous Bursaries Search Tool is available in a different section of the government website.
ScholarTree
ScholarTree helps match students with scholarships. Students can create a profile and see which scholarships they qualify for and receive deadline reminders. The platform is free.
StudentAwards
StudentAwards conveniently offers to send relevant scholarship information directly to students’ inboxes; it’s free to subscribe and complete a profile to help find relevant scholarships. You can also search for scholarships using a filtered search function on the StudentAwards website and explore articles about scholarships, finances, student life, tuition and other related topics.
Top 10 Canadian Scholarships (GrantMe)
This article links out to what GrantMe calls the top 10 scholarships in Canada.
Universities Canada
While part of its mission is to advocate for Canadian universities, Universities Canada is also dedicated to helping students learn more about going to university. The programs and scholarships section of their website explores the more than 120 scholarship programs they manage on behalf of private sector companies.
UniversityStudy.ca
This website, supported by Universities Canada, provides a list of resources to search for scholarships, student awards, bursaries and grants. Students can also explore universities to access information about their tuition fees, educational programs and student enrolment, and compare universities using a tool that arranges key information about multiple universities side-by-side.
Additional reading
- 7 Tips to Help you Find and Win Scholarships (ScholarshipsCanada.com)
- 7 scholarship application tips – from the winners! (TopUniversities.com)
- A Guide to Scholarships, Awards and Applications (ScholarshipsCanada.com)
- Top 5 tips for applying for a scholarship (UniversityStudy.ca)
- Your Ultimate 2023 Scholarship Guide (Novorésumé)
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Updated with files from Katrina Rozal in October 2023.
