Scholartips: Top Scholarship Advice
Have you always dreamt of going away to somewhere new for university or college to expand your horizons? “Find something you love to do and do it! Follow your passions!” Everyone has been encouraging throughout your childhood and wants you to follow you dreams and have big ambitions. What they don’t tell you, is just how expensive dreams and ambitions can actually be.
Along with the cost of living, college and university expenses continues to rise. Tuition at Harvard University is $56550 for 2024-25 year, not including housing, food, and student services. One year of student expenses amounts to $82866. Multiplied by 4 yrs, and your total is $331 464 USD. The figures are totally scary and off putting. You may be strong enough academically to go to Harvard, but real question to ask could be whether you are strong enough financially to actually go?! This could be a very real roadblock for many capable teenagers. In comparison, studying in Canada is “cheaper,” with annual expenses varying between $25000-44000 CAD per year. Smaller figures for sure, but they certainly aren’t small numbers when you consider that these figures are taken from your earnings “after taxes.” Student debt is real, and ideally you want to minimize the debt you incur over your post-secondary education. Your parents also don’t really want to work a few extra years before they retire to support you through your post-secondary education. Scholarships, bursaries and awards can certainly help.
Top 3 Tips for Winning Scholarships and Bursaries
Seek and ye shall find
There are thousands of scholarships out there, available year round, but you do need to search for them. AI can be very helpful to pull up hundreds of options. Consider your talents, family history, geographic location, areas of interest, gender, religion, societies and family affiliations, and then search high and low for bursaries, scholarships, awards and competitions. Many awards have very tight or seemingly quirky eligibility requirements, requiring you to be from a certain county, or studying a subject that is very “niche” such as flower arranging or advertising. Other awards specify that the applicant be a certain height, or have a specific medical diagnosis. Not all prizes are dependent on having the highest academic results. Those days are long gone.
Apply. Rinse. Repeat.
If you don’t shoot, you don’t score. Compared to ten years ago, the majority of awards and free academic funding now comes from the private sector, rather than university and college sources. Apply for multiple scholarships and bursaries. Then do this again. The more frequently you apply, the more chances you have for success. It’s an endurance game.
Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall
Scholarships have deadlines in every month of the year. Most students perk up between January and May and apply for prizes in this window, and then get bored or burnt out. Keep looking and applying. Most students switch off in July and August and don’t think of award applications during this window. Because of this tendency, there is less competition for the awards that have deadlines in summer months. Take advantage and apply. Keep your eyes open.
There is money out there, you just need to find it. Think of it as a big Easter Egg hunt for cash rather than chocolate. It’s certainly worth the effort, and could give you significant financial freedom to follow and also enjoy your dreams.
If you have any questions or want help playing this game, contact info@thescholarshiptutor.com This is a contact sport, and it’s time to get your game face on.
What is the difference between a scholarship, bursary, loan and grant?
It can be confusing when you are investigating financial support for your education. It is important to know what type of money you are actually applying for!
Scholarships
A scholarship is a monetary prize that has traditionally been awarded for academic merit (but this trend is now changing as you’ll learn from myscholarshiptutor.com). Scholarships do not need to be repaid to the donor. Often scholarships have clear stipulations that need to be met in order for you to receive your money. For example, you could apply and receive an entrance scholarship from a college for $5000, that is renewable over your four year degree, provided you maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher. Your grades are reviewed every spring, and if you continue to meet their requirements, they would give you $5000 again for the following year. Ultimately this could be advertised as a $20000 scholarship, but you will only receive the full amount if you meet their requirements over four years. Every scholarship has different rules. Not all scholarships are renewable. Some are a simple lump sum payment that is delivered to the individual’s bank account, or to the university directly, to be applied to your student account. If your award is larger that your tuition expenses, this can be applied to your residence fees or you can have a credit on your account to be used the following year.
Bursaries
A bursary is a monetary prize that is awarded to strong candidates who often, but not always, have demonstrated financial need. Bursaries are offered by universities, but also can come from charities, businesses and individuals. Bursaries are usually not renewable, and are delivered in a lump sum payment to the student or their university account. These do not need to be repaid, and are usually not dependent on your academic standing. Instead, bursaries often are awarded because of your extracurricular choices and personal affiliations. For example, your parents could be in the military, be affiliated with a specific charity or health concern. Academically, your grades need to be very good, but not stellar. Often donors request evidence of financial need, and ask for proof of earnings.
Student Loans
Student loans are available from government bodies to help with the expenses. Every country, province and state has different rules. You apply for a student loan formally online, and your family’s financial situation is reviewed in detail. If your family is wealthy, you will not likely be able to get a large student loan compared to a student who has less financial support from their family. The applications usually takes 4-8 weeks to be processed. If you are denied or unhappy with the amount you have been allocated, there will be an appeal process. Student loans need to be repaid, and repayments usually need to start six months after you graduate. At that time, you can determine a payment plan and start repaying this debt over many years.
Grants
A grant is a lump sum of money that is awarded to an individual or group, to be used for a specific task, activity or item. For example, you can apply for a grant to get funding for something like a new laptop, books or wheelchair. You have to stipulate how you are going to use the money when you apply for a grant. If accepted, you may have to purchase the item(s) up front and get reimbursed from the donor. You can find a wide variety of grants online. Schools, governments, businesses, charities and non-profit organizations can offer grants. This money does not need to be repaid. The only drawback is that you usually need to write a small report after the purchase or event to the donor, justifying the expenditure and proving that you actually spent the money as expected.
If you have any questions or want help playing this game, contact info@thescholarshiptutor.com This is a contact sport, and it’s time to get your game face on.
What is the Schulich Leader Scholarship?
It all begins with an idea.
Schulich Leader Scholarships are prizes awarded to high achieving, entrepreneurial STEM students in Canada each spring. Students must be Canadian residents or citizens, and be graduating from Canadian secondary school or CEGEP to apply. In addition to receiving money, Schulich leaders are mentored by tech professionals, joining an elite network of entrepreneurial thinkers, and benefit from many enriching opportunities through their university studies.
How many? 100 awards are given out every year in Canada.
How much? 50 awards, valued at $120 000 CAD each, are awarded to high school graduates enrolling in engineering
50 awards, valued at $100 000 CAD each, are allocated for high school graduates enrolling in science and math programs
Who can apply? Every high school in Canada can nominate one graduating student per year to apply.
Who wins? Entrepreneurial-minded students who demonstrate:
outstanding community, business or entrepreneurial leadership
academic excellence,
and/or financial need.
They are not looking for medical students/future healthcare professionals.
They want students who want to pursue a career in tech, engineering, business enterprise or applied scientific research.
Where can you study? Schulich has 20 partner universities where students can use these scholarships. Here’s the list from west to east:
UVic, UBC, SFU
UofA, UofCalgary
UofSask, UofMan
UWO, Waterloo, McMaster, UofT, York, Queen’s, uOttawa
McGill, UdeMontreal, ULaval
UNB, Dal, MUN
Deadlines? Nominations are submitted for each high school by January 29, 2025. Talk to your guidance counsellor & get nominated.
Applications need to be submitted by February 19, 2025.
Need help with this process? info@myscholarshiptutor.com We can save you time, and help perfect this application for a better shot at 120K.
Scholarship Preparation: Ready, Set, Go!
It all begins with an idea.
You’re a grade 11 student who is trying to get top marks between now and June. In the summer before your senior year, your plan is to use this time to properly consider college choices and options. In the meantime, you continue studying, and getting great marks. Your transcript is forever, and it needs to be strong. As Dory from Finding Nemo would advise, “Just keep swimming.” Right?
The problem with this approach is that students often do not realize how quickly deadlines strike in their senior year, both for college applications and scholarships. In the US, early applications are often due November 1 or November 15. In the UK, deadlines for medicine and dentistry are October 15. (And don’t forget that you can apply to medicine in the UK right out of high school, and save four years of academic life by avoiding the expense of pre-med and health science degrees.) The early admission deadline at The University of Toronto this year is November 7. Some large scholarships, such as the Loran Scholarship worth 100K CAD, have an early firm deadline of October 15. Essentially, as soon as you start your senior year, you can start applying for programs and awards.
This is why what you do and achieve in grades 10 and 11, your sophomore and junior years of high school, is epically important. These are the academic grades that you will be providing for early admission. On these applications, you will also be asked about your extracurricular activities and community service to date. If you have not done much outside of academics in grades 10 and 11, your applications will not be as fantastic as you would expect.
So you need to consider a “Ready, Set, Go” approach, and this should ideally start in grade 9 or 10. You need these years to develop your student profile to show that you are a solid candidate for your programs of choice, and for the awards that on offer. Selection committees are looking for well rounded candidates, who are going to enhance their campuses and new communities. Being a strong academic student is important, but it is also key to demonstrate that you are a strong person, and a capable human being.
We are happy to help you with this process, and save you a lot of time, helping students gain focus and clear direction. We give students personalized strategies, confidence and guidance to get them be ready for the application process. Then we help them through the application process, answering questions and editing essays along the way. Our students have an edge on their competition, and aim for their academic and scholarship targets early. This process is competitive, so it makes sense to get a good coach who can get to know you, and help you play to your strengths. Start early to make the most of your time. We charge for our service, but this is an investment in your student’s future. Better applications, lead to better opportunities and bigger scholarships.