The College of Graduate Studies offers awards to reward academic achievement, allowing students to focus on their studies and research.

The College of Graduate Studies is responsible for merit-based graduate awards at the Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia. We manage a number of award competitions each year and administer payments of all internal awards and selected external awards.

Graduate students at UBC’s Okanagan campus who have questions about tuition that are not answered below, or who have questions about need-based funding, should visit the Student Services website.

Many students will find answers to their questions in the Awards FAQ below.

Resources for Award Applicants

Listed below are some internal and external award and scholarship databases that can be of use to current and prospective students.

tri-Agency scholarship support

The College of Graduate Studies offers workshops and support for students interested in applying for a Tri-Agency scholarship (NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC).

Learn more

Information for Award Recipients

Recipients of external graduate awards, scholarships, and fellowships are advised to download and read a copy of the Award Holder’s Guide on the appropriate award agency’s website. The Tri-Agency (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) Research Training Award Holder’s Guide is available online.

Other major fellowships have different guidelines. Students must refer to their award offer letter and/or the agency’s website for guidelines.

Awards holders are responsible for reviewing and adhering to the Senate Regulations Governing Student Awards.

Award payments will only be made to students who are registered as full-time UBC graduate students. Award holders are required to maintain registration for the duration of their award funding period.

Details pertaining to an award holder’s program completion, leave from program, withdrawal from program, and satisfactory progress will be outlined in their award offer letter. Award holders are responsible for reviewing and adhering to the conditions outlined in their award offer letter.

PROGRESS REPORTS

All graduate students at UBC Okanagan are required to submit to the College of Graduate Studies an annual progress report. Failure to submit a progress report may result in award payments being suspended until a satisfactory progress report is received. For UBC Okanagan awards, award holders must maintain satisfactory progress in their programs of study and remain registered as full-time students for each term of the award payment. If the College of Graduate Studies determines that a student is not making satisfactory progress, the College of Graduate Studies reserves the right to cancel the award.

Award funding is paid via the SSC. Once an award is assigned, students must accept the award via the SSC (notifications of award offers will be sent by email).  Awards paid through the SSC are first applied against any outstanding fees. If the amount of the award is greater than the outstanding fees in any term, the extra funds will be paid to the student through Electronic Funds Transfer, or, if the student does not have banking information in SSC, in the form of a cheque. An email confirming the funds transfer or cheque being available for pick-up will be sent to the student. Cheques can be picked up at Student Services (photo identification is required). Detailed information about accepting and receiving payments via the SSC is available in the Notice of Award generated when a student accepts the award offer in SSC.

Students are encouraged to check their financial record on the SSC for confirmation of award instalment amounts and dates. Normally, awards are paid out using the following payment schedule:

Department Recommended Awards:

  • Paid out entirely in one term

College of Graduate Studies Awards and External Awards:

  • September 1 to April 30 amount is assigned in August and pays out in two equal installments in September and January
  • May 1 to August 31 amount is assigned in April and pays out in one installment in May

Award holders will be required to return any excess amounts that were incorrectly issued to them. This includes incorrect overpayment for the time period after their effective completion or withdrawal date, SSC errors, etc.

Income tax is not withheld from awards paid through the SSC. Enrolment Services will provide a T4A form at the end of the calendar year for all award payments received during the calendar year. Students can download T4A from the SSC. Students are responsible for filing income tax returns on these awards.

Most external funding agencies have clearly defined policies regarding additional funding for award recipients. Funding agencies might restrict the amount students are eligible to receive from other awards, number of hours they can spend on work unrelated to their research, the type of research grants used to pay any additional Research or Teaching Assistantships, etc. It is the award recipient’s responsibility to comply with the rules and regulations of their award.

Awards Frequently Asked Questions

Award funding is paid via the Student Service Centre (SSC). Once an award is assigned, you must accept the award via the SSC (notifications of award offers will be sent by email).  Awards paid through the SSC are first applied against any outstanding fees. If the amount of the award is greater than the outstanding fees in any term, the extra funds will be paid to you through Electronic Funds Transfer, or, if you do not have banking information in SSC, in the form of a cheque. An email confirming the funds transfer or cheque being available for pick-up will be sent to you. Cheques can be picked up at Student Services (photo identification is required). Detailed information about accepting and receiving payments via the SSC is available in the Notice of Award generated when you accept the award offer in SSC.

For the Winter session (September to April), awards are normally assigned by the end of August and pay out in early September and early January. For the Summer session (May to August), awards are normally assigned by the end of April and pay out in early May. Please note that once the award payment status changes from pending to paid, it will be several days before the funds appear in your bank account (for direct deposit payments) or are available to be picked up as a cheque. Please allow for this processing time before contacting the College of Graduate Studies about an award that you are expecting.

Your awards are first used to pay any outstanding tuition and student fees; please review your SSC financial account to determine if you have a positive balance (a refund will be issued to you) or a negative balance (you need to pay the balance by the due date) after your award payments have been applied to your account. Please note that tuition awards do not cover student fees. It is your responsibility to ensure that your tuition and student fees are paid by the deadline to avoid late or interest fees.

We cannot assign or activate any award funding until you are registered as a full-time graduate student for the funding period.  If you register a week before the term start date or later, please send an email to graduateawards.ok@ubc.ca so they will know to proceed with setting up your awards.

The Graduate Awards database lists many upcoming funding opportunities.  Each entry provides key information about the funding opportunity, including the application deadline and information about how to apply. We also provide additional resources for award applicants, including links to other funding databases.

If your questions have not been answered by this FAQ or by searching the Graduate Awards database, please use the Contact Us Form.

Where possible, you should include all institutions you have attended, completed or not. If you have attended more than the number of institutions asked for on the award application form, please list the most recently attended. If a degree was not obtained at an institution, still include it but do not include an expected/awarded date.

Although we can assist with the application process, we do not provide feedback to applicants on their award applications. Your supervisor and graduate program coordinator are the best resources to use when writing the content of your award application (i.e. research proposal, research contributions and publications). Also, the Centre for Scholarly Communication provides workshops and hosts appointments for students interested in receiving assistance in the written component of their award application.

Please contact our office to inquire if the necessary transcripts are on file. If we do not have them, you will be required to have official transcripts sent to our office before the application deadline.

UBCO and UBCV are the same institution. You must select one when applying. Only one program at UBC will review your CGS M/D application. If you are awarded a CGS M/D and get admitted to both campuses you applied to, you can choose where to take your CGS M/D (it’s tied to you, not the program or campus you applied through).

MINIMUM FUNDING POLICY FOR PHD STUDENTS

In June 2021, UBC Okanagan Senate passed the Minimum Funding Policy for PhD Students. The goal of the policy is to assist PhD students to be full-time scholars, and to aid in graduate recruitment, by having a guaranteed minimum funding level.

Tuition & Fees

Learn more about paying fees and keeping tuition and student fees up-to-date.

Tuition

Award Opportunities

Explore the many award opportunities available to graduate students.

AWARDS

Bursaries & Financial Support

UBC provides financial assistance through scholarships and bursaries to students.

SUPPORT

Deadlines

Want to schedule your graduate experience? Identify and learn more about the major deadlines applicable to graduate students.

KEY DATES