Expert Tips to Getting Awards

By Lesley Huska, Manager of Student Finance and Scholarships

A post-secondary education is a big investment that takes dedication, hard work and the finances to make it all happen. There are many sources of financial aid to help reduce your educational costs: government student loans (including non-repayable grants); awards (bursaries and scholarships); Registered Education Savings Plan savings (RESP); and, even Aeroplan points.

Let’s focus on awards because these are the most frequent sources of financial aid out there. Here are my top tips to help you find awards to help finance your educational journey:

1. Ask a lot of questions. Financial Aid Professionals are paid to help students find resources so don’t be afraid to visit or call your school’s financial aid and awards office.
2. Always read the fine print. There is always a catch and all awards have their own eligibility conditions.
3. Apply early. Many award deadlines happen months in advance so you will probably have to apply for awards before you even start attending classes.
4. Look for external awards (aka. awards that don’t come from your school) and ask your family members if their workplace offers awards for dependents of employees. Here are three trusted award websites:
   • www.scholarshipscanada.com
   • www.yconic.com
   • www.aucc.ca
5. Keep your resume current and write a short essay about your post-secondary and future career plans. Some scholarship applications will ask for this type of information.

At The King’s University, located in Edmonton, Alberta, we make applying for scholarships as simple as possible. We offer one application for all of our competitive awards that is due on March 31.

Learn more about The King’s University’s Scholarships at kingsu.ca/scholarships