Additional Scholarship Information
Tips for Your Scholarship Application
A scholarship application is an opportunity for you to describe in your own words your best attributes and accomplishments at the University of Alberta and in your community.
- Be clear and concise.
- Provide specific examples of your achievements.
- Describe the depth of your involvement in the activities you are highlighting, and how your actions have made an impact.
- Demonstrate your progression within positions.
- Exercise some creativity! Writing a unique essay can set you apart from other applicants.
- Select a reference who will be objective; try not to use family members if possible.
- Choose someone who can give specific examples of your accomplishments and has first-hand knowledge of your leadership experience and abilities.
- Save your application often! The award application portal will time-out after 15 minutes of inactivity.
- Write your essays in a separate word document so you can edit, spellcheck, and review word counts. When you're ready to submit your application, copy your responses into the award application portal.
- Write a unique response to each question in the application. You can use similar ideas, activities, and concepts throughout your essays but using the exact same essay more than once is discouraged.
- When writing responses to essay prompts, ensure that you answer all parts of the question.
- Avoid repetition, acronyms, shorthand, and slang. Write as if the person reading your application has no prior knowledge of your experiences.
- Express your unique perspective and set yourself apart from other students applying for scholarships.
- Apply early! This application requires thoughtful reflection and cannot be adequately completed in one day.
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If you are still struggling, reach out to awards@ualberta.ca or contact the Student Service Centre.
If you have a permanent disability and need accessibility support to complete your application, learn more and apply early for applicant accommodations, or contact dosdean@ualberta.ca for assistance.
Information for Funding Recipients
If you receive a scholarship, award, or bursary offer from the University of Alberta, you will need to accept your offer before you can receive funding. See below for more details on the next steps. (If you are receiving funding from another organization, please follow up with them for information on how to receive your funds).
Notification
You will receive various emails automatically generated by the Awards Hub. Emails will come from “studentfinancialsupport@ualberta.ca via academicworks.com.” Your University of Alberta email may flag these emails as potential spam. If this happens, please click on the “Looks safe” button to recognize this email as a legitimate sender.
Accept or Decline Your Funding Offer
If you receive an award offer, you will need to accept your offer before you can receive funding. The conditions of your award will be found with your award offer. If you do not plan on attending the University of Alberta in the upcoming year, or if you no longer meet the award criteria, please decline the offer so that we can offer it to another eligible recipient. If you decline your award in error, please get in touch with the Student Service Centre for assistance.
How to Receive Your Funds
In order to receive your funds, you must:
- Accept your award offer.
- Meet the terms and conditions of the award
- Maintain full-time registration status at the University of Alberta in the faculty/department specified. Should your registration drop to part-time, your funding will be prorated.
The Office of the Registrar will review all awards following the Add/Drop Deadline of each term to ensure registration requirements are met.
Funding from offers made before January 1 will be divided and applied equally to the Fall and Winter terms. Funding from offers made after January 1 will be applied in full to the Winter term.
Your funding will first be applied to any outstanding tuition and fees you may have. Any remaining funds will then be refunded to you via e-Transfer (see “Refunds”below) - but not before the Tuition Fee Refund deadline for that term.
Award funds cannot be used to pay the Tuition Deposit.
The University of Alberta works with PayMyTuition, an electronic payment tool, to remit international and domestic refunds to students. Interac e-Transfers through PayMyTuition has replaced direct deposit and cheques for scholarship, award and bursary refunds. For more information, please visit the Refund & Withdrawals webpage.
Upon approval of your refund from the University of Alberta, you will receive an email from the university confirming that your refund has been issued. Once your refund is processed, your student account balance in Bear Tracks is updated. You will receive an e-Transfer link and further instructions by email in 5-10 business days. To receive additional support, please submit a request through the Student Service Portal.
You will receive a T4A slip for any award funding you receive, for use on your next tax return. Taxes will not be deducted at the time your award is disbursed.
Please see Tax Forms and Receipts for more information about T4As.
How to Share Your Story
Many undergraduate awards at the University of Alberta are funded through the generosity of donors. Even if you applied to a general scholarship competition, it's likely that your funding will consist of individual, donor-backed awards. Your Notice of Award letter will include donor information.
Please take a moment to Share your Story as a way to let donors know the difference their gift has made to you. It only takes a few minutes, but it means a lot to our donors and goes a long way towards ensuring their continued generosity for future students like you!
Courseload Requirements
Some awards require that you complete a specific courseload to be considered eligible. Courseload requirements can vary depending on the award or award competition so make sure you check the requirements before applying!
This information is a general guideline for courseload requirements for the University of Alberta undergraduate awards and should assist you in determining your eligibility. If you still have questions regarding your eligibility, please contact the Student Service Centre.
- A minimum of 24 credits taken from September to April is required to be considered for awards unless otherwise specified in the terms of the award or terms of the award competition.
- If the terms of the award or the award competition require full-time studies a student must have completed a minimum of 9 credits in each of the Fall and Winter terms.
- Award recipients are normally required to maintain full-time studies registration in the upcoming year to receive the full value of the award.
- If you will be enrolled part-time in the upcoming year of study or are convocating please email us at awards@ualberta.ca for clarification.
- Students who are registered with Accessibility Resources for an approved reduced courseload will be considered based on their specific accommodations. Please note that normally Alberta Student Aid funded scholarships do not consider approved accommodations (ex. The Jason Lang and Louise McKinney Scholarship).