What is a bursary? I am sure you have heard this term in passing while in your career class, or in an information session about university or college. A bursary is a sum of money that you do not have to pay back. ScholarshipsCanada.com defines a bursary as a sum of money that is given to a student who is very much in need of financial assistance in order to attend a post-secondary institution.[1] Some students are more in need of assistance than others, and bursaries can help them achieve their goals of going to school.

The word bursary is similar to the word “grant” when it comes to giving money to students for school. In the same right, it is a sum of money that can be given to a student through a business, organization or private source, for free. The Government of Canada also gives many grants to students who want to attend post-secondary education, depending on their financial situation.

“When you apply for student financial assistance, your eligibility for most Canada Student Grants will automatically be assessed. You may be able to get more than one grant at a time.”[2]

So, if you apply for a student loan, in other words, you will also be applying to grants on top of your student loan application. The website http://www.canlearn.ca/ is a great place to start when looking for grants or bursaries.

Like grants, scholarships do not have to be paid back in any way. In most cases, scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit. However, scholarships can also be given to students that have illustrated great athletic achievement-often called an “athletic scholarship”. A student can also apply for scholarships that look at their accomplishments in volunteer work.

If you are planning on going to university or college, you must explore every option for financing. Tuition fees are only going up, as well as the cost of living. It is important to confront these realities in order to succeed in your goals for the future. More and more students in Canada are getting in debt, which leads to problems in the future. If you do not have a job coming out of university, it can be very challenging to “keep up with the joneses”. In a report from CBC News, it states that university tuition has risen 3.2% to an average of $6191.00 in 2015, alone.[3]

Sources:

[1] http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/News/8/2974/Scholarships,-Bursaries,-Loans,-and-Awards-What-s-the-Difference?

[2] http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/loans_grants/grants/index.shtml

[3] http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/university-tuition-average-cost-1.3220538