Award Overview
- Award Category
- Financial Assistance, Grants and Bursaries
- Level of Study
- Doctoral, Master’s
- Required Legal Status
- Domestic / International
Purpose
The University of Toronto offers a variety of need-based awards to support students in their academic pursuits. These awards are designed to help cover the financial gap between a student’s actual education costs and the costs recognized by their provincial/territorial government student financial aid program. Need-based awards require the demonstration of financial need through a university assessment process, in addition to any other eligibility requirements stated for the specific award.
OSOTF awards refer to a category of need-based awards for Ontario residents established in 1996 from Ontario government’s matching program called “Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund”. Under the program, every dollar of donation received was matched by the government as well as the University on a dollar-for-dollar basis, to set up permanent endowment funds to assist Ontario students with financial need. The Provincial government held two matching program periods for OSOTF awards (the first in 1996, second in 2003), resulting in establishing OSOTF and OSOTF II awards. In 2005, the Ontario government launched the Ontario Trust for Student Support (OTSS) program, which replaced the OSOTF program, and provided $50 million per year to match private and corporate cash donations. Through these matching programs University offers awards each year from the income generated from these endowments to domestic students who are residents of Ontario and demonstrate financial need.
Eligibility
- Demonstration financial need through one of the following financial need assessment processes or as required by the award instructions:
- Need Navigator
- SGS Financial Need Assessment Form (FNA): Domestic and International students who cannot submit an application to Need Navigator
- Meet all other eligibility requirements for the award, e.g. merit, leadership, research excellence, etc.
OSOTF or OTSS are open to eligible applicants who meet the following criteria, in addition to any other criteria specified by the individual award:
- Demonstrate financial need (as above)
- Meet all other eligibility requirements for the award, e.g. merit, leadership, research excellence, etc.
- Are Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada or protected persons under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) at the time of the application; and
- Are residents of Ontario* at the time of the application, as defined by one of the following criteria:
- Student has always lived in Ontario (i.e. Ontario is the only Canadian province/territory that the student has lived in); or
- Ontario is the last province in which student has lived for 12 months in a row without being a full-time postsecondary student; or
- Student lives in Ontario now and has lived in Canada for less than 12 months in a row.
Notes:
If student is married/common-law, student can be considered an Ontario resident if: Spouse has always lived in Ontario; or Ontario is the last province in which spouse has lived for 12 months in a row without being a full-time postsecondary student; or Both of these statements are true: a) Student lives in Ontario now; and b) Student and spouse have lived in Canada for less than 12 months in a row.
If student qualifies as a dependent student, student is considered an Ontario resident if: Ontario is the last province in which parent(s) have lived for at least 12 months in a row; or Both of these statements are true: a) Student lives in Ontario now; and b) Student and parent(s) have lived in Canada for less than 12 months in a row.
*The above requirements are established by OSAP to determine Ontario residency for OSAP purposes.
Application Process
Application process and deadlines vary across divisions depending on the awarding faculty/graduate unit/department.