Financial Aid for Graduate Students in Ontario

Scholarships, Fellowships, Awards
Grad school scholarships for international students are often available to new students based on criteria such as academic success, community involvement, references from instructors/employers or financial need. The amount varies widely depending on the award and the source, but grad funding can range from between $4,000 and $50,000 per year.

Sources of scholarships for international students applying to grad schools in the province are:

the universities/grad schools themselves

provincial governments

Canadian federal government

scholarship organizations in your home country

Some grad schools have specific international student awards for master's and doctoral degree programs. These range in value from around $4,000 to $8,500 each year, for a certain maximum number of terms. Other schools may have partial tuition scholarships for international students, which equalize the amount of tuition paid by international students and the low tuition fees paid by Canadian students.

Examples of Canadian federal government scholarship options for international students are:

The Government of Canada Awards

Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship Program

Canadian Fellowship Program for French-Speaking Countries (awarded by the Canadian International Development Agency or CIDA)

Visiting Fellowships in Canadian Government Laboratories program administered by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program, jointly administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Funding
Most international graduate students with a record of academic excellence will receive funding of some kind. Some grad schools even guarantee minimum annual funding for all doctoral students, including international students. At other schools, all grad students--master's or doctoral--in certain programs (like engineering) are guaranteed funding. Graduate programs in all provinces also offer stipends, teaching assistantships or research assistantships to outstanding international students. Programs will consider you for such awards or positions when making admissions decisions.

Grad schools in the province may also have agreements with individual countries, which means grad schools here in Canada agree to host graduate students who have financial support from their home governments. Some of these include:

China: China Scholarship Council

Chile: Equal Opportunities Fund

Kazakhstan: Bolshak Scholars Program

Mexico: CONACYT Scholarships

Be sure to find out what may be available from government or other scholarship agencies in your home country. And, since individual grad schools offer different scholarships and funding, it is essential that you contact the graduate program you wish to apply to for more information about gad school scholarships for international students in the province.