Scholarships are merit-based and are awarded for scholastic achievement. Bursaries are need-based and are granted on the basis of financial need. Both are non-repayable.

Prospective Carleton Students

If you have been given an offer of admission to Carleton you will receive information on the various forms of financial assistance available to help you finance your studies. To be considered for a Carleton University Entrance Bursary, simply apply online by the end of June.

Current Carleton Students

If you are a current registered undergraduate student, you will be able to access the online Applications for Bursaries/Awards system on Carleton Central at the beginning of September for the Fall/Winter session. The deadline to complete and submit a bursary application is late October. The Bursary Committee will review your application and you will be advised of the decision sometime in December.

Because the bursary program is need-based, funding is directed to those students with the greatest need who have the fewest options for securing sufficient funding to finance their education. Generally, students who receive a bursary are also in receipt of some type of loan funding from either government student financial assistance (OSAP) or from a financial institution and continue to demonstrate financial need.

You and your family will bear the greatest responsibility for funding your education. To be fair to all, we base our student financial assistance decisions on ability and not willingness to pay. Consequently, Carleton’s need-based assistance will be used to help those students in the greatest financial difficulty.

Prospective Students

Entrance Bursaries for incoming first-year students are assessed on an on-going basis until the June 30 deadline. If you are awarded an entrance bursary, you will be notified of the decision by email and you can view the details of your bursary in your online letter through Carleton Central.

Current Carleton Students

The deadline to complete and submit a bursary application on Carleton Central is October 31st. The Bursary Committee will review your application and you will be advised of the decision by email sometime in December.

Bursaries are awarded to students based on the financial need they demonstrated for the current academic session. Therefore, if you are not able to attend in a given year you may not defer the bursary for use in subsequent years. However, you may re-apply for a bursary in the following term/year when you are registered at Carleton. Your financial need will be evaluated on the basis of your circumstances at that time.

Bursaries are issued to your Carleton student account and applied to your fees. If you have a credit on your student account, you can request a refund through your Carleton Central account (after certain dates).  For more information on refund requests from the Student Accounts FAQ page.

By law, the Canada Revenue Agency requires Carleton to report bursaries, scholarships, awards, prizes, and tuition waiver amounts provided to students. These amounts are shown as income in Box 28 of the T4A. You can view your T4A on Carleton Central in February. It will reflect the amounts you have received from Carleton during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31). For income tax purposes and preparing your T4A slip, your Social Insurance Number (SIN) is required.

Visit the Canada Revenue Agency website for more information on students and income tax.

A bursary is a monetary award that is granted on the basis of financial need. Bursaries do not have to be repaid.

Carleton University offers bursaries to undergraduate students who are in receipt of some type of loan funding from either government student financial assistance (OSAP or other province) or from a financial institution and continue to demonstrate financial need in order to finance their studies.

If you are applying for a bursary be prepared to present a budget estimating your expenses and sources of funds, including such things as your personal savings, family support and government assistance.

If you are in a co-operative education stream or the industrial experience program, the administration of your scholarship will work differently because of the work terms. You will not be able to draw upon scholarship funds during the work period. Once you return to full-time studies, you will come under scholarship provisions.

If you anticipate being on a co-op work term some time during the academic year, please contact the Awards Office in order to make the necessary arrangements to defer your scholarship to when you return to full-time studies and once again come under scholarship provisions.

By law, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires Carleton to provide students with a report that lists the amount received in bursaries, scholarships, awards, prizes, and tuition waivers. These amounts are shown as income in Box 28 of your T4A. You can view your T4A on Carleton Central in February which will reflect the amounts you have received from Carleton during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31). For income tax purposes and preparing your T4A slip, your Social Insurance Number (SIN) is required.

Visit the CRA website for more information on students and income tax.

For scholarships, all original/earned grades (grade points of all Carleton credits/courses) taken in the last 12-month period (previous Summer, Fall and Winter terms) are included in the calculation of your annual GPA. For each of your courses you will be given a letter grade. That grade corresponds to a numerical value.

You can find the letter to numerical value conversion table here.

To calculate your annual GPA follow these steps:

• Add all the sums and divide by the total number of credits.
• Determine the letter grades for each of your courses.
• Determine the numeric value associated with each grade.
• Multiply that number by the credit value of the course.
• Please note, scholarship assessment is based on annual GPA, not CGPA.