Awards FAQs for Prospective Students

The Awards Office administers various financial aid and awards programs to reward academic achievement and provide financial assistance. The office is responsible for the administration of undergraduate scholarships, bursaries and the Work Study program. The Awards Office is also responsible for the effective administration of government student assistance programs such as OSAP, government student aid from other Canadian provinces as well as federal/provincial scholarships and federal/provincial bursary programs.

Our goal is to guide students through the application and assessment process so they may have the appropriate financial supports in place to successfully achieve their educational goals.

Entrance Scholarship offers will be made with the offer of admission.

If you are entering Carleton with an admissions average of 80 percent or better, you will automatically be considered for one of our renewable entrance scholarships.  The admissions average we use is calculated from the marks submitted by your high school in support of your application and may be a combination of early/interim or final marks. You may be offered a renewable entrance scholarship provided you are entering Carleton for the first time and have no previous attendance at post-secondary educational institutions.

Post-secondary students transferring from another Canadian university or college program to a full-time undergraduate program at Carleton may be eligible for an Entrance Scholarship for university/college transfer students.

For more information: Entrance Scholarships

Entrance Scholarship offers are not assessed or reassessed on final grades we receive in June/July or summer school grades.

Your Entrance Scholarship offer is valid as long as you maintain your offer of admission.

Accepting our offer of admission will also confirm acceptance of your Entrance Scholarship offer.

The following is available:

• entrance scholarships
• competitive entrance scholarships
• entrance bursaries
• leadership entrance bursaries

For all other Carleton awards, you can browse our extensive Awards Database.

You will receive an entrance scholarship acknowledgement letter in June to confirm the details of your entrance scholarship. Scholarships are issued to your Carleton student account and applied towards tuition fees in two installments (half for the fall term and the second half for the winter term) provided you have registered and remain registered in a minimum of 4.0 credits over the fall and winter session combined.  On Carleton Central, the value of any scholarship you have been awarded will be recorded as ‘available funding’ in the appropriate term(s) and will reduce the amount of fees you need to pay.

No. However, you must complete a separate OSAP application for each school you are applying to. We encourage you to submit an OSAP application only for the schools that are your first and second choices. Once you have received your offer of admission from the school you plan to attend, you should notify the financial aid offices of the schools you are not attending and have them close your application.

To apply for OSAP go to ontario.ca/osap and complete the online application. Alternatively, you can print a paper application from the OSAP website and submit it directly to the Awards Office.

To ensure that you have the proper funding for the start of your studies in September, we recommend applying for OSAP and submitting all required documents to the Awards Office by mid-July.

See, OSAP application instructions.

If you don’t live in Ontario, you may be eligible for government student assistance through your home province or territory. “Home” province or territory is usually defined as the province in which your parents currently reside, or if you are an independent applicant, the province in which you have most recently lived and worked for 12 consecutive months (excluding residence for full-time attendance at a post-secondary institution).

See, list of provincial/territorial student aid programs.

A bursary is a monetary award that is granted on the basis of financial need. Bursaries do not have to be repaid. Carleton offers bursaries to students who have applied for a student loan and who require additional assistance in order to finance their studies. 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, complete and submit the Entrance Bursary application, through the Undergraduate Application Forms System on Carleton Central by June 30.

In order to be considered for scholarships, you would first have to apply and be admitted to Carleton University. Undergraduate entrance scholarships are automatically offered to students who meet our academic and language requirements. Students who do not enter on a scholarship will automatically be considered for an in-course scholarship for the following year if they achieve an A- standing. Bursaries are available for those who require financial assistance after their first year of undergraduate studies. For more details and to apply on-line, see bursary information for current students. Visa students are not eligible for the Canadian federal or provincial student loan program but should look at what assistance may be offered through their own country.

For more information: International Students