Student Deadline to Graduate Unit: March 29, 2024 at 5PM
Value/Duration: $5,000 per session for 2 or 3 consecutive sessions
Level of study: Master’s or Doctoral
Required Legal Status: Domestic Students (Canadian citizen, permanent resident, protected persons)
Results: July 2024

Purpose

The Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) program encourages excellence in graduate studies at publicly-assisted universities in Ontario. Since 1975, the OGS program has been providing merit-based scholarships to Ontario’s best graduate students in all disciplines of academic study. The scholarship program at U of T is jointly funded by the Province of Ontario and the University of Toronto. The Province allocates OGS awards to universities specifying the number of awards that each may offer to their students annually.

Indigenous Scholar Awards

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU) encourages universities to offer a minimum of two (2) OGS awards exclusively to Indigenous graduate students with the aim to recognize excellence and promote equitable access and participation in the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program by Indigenous applicants.

Graduate students who are Indigenous to Canada (recognized in the Constitution Act, 1982 as a person who identifies with First nations (Status/Non-Status), Métis, or Inuit) and provide this information on their OGS application may be eligible to be considered for one of at least three (3) Ontario Graduate Scholarship Indigenous Scholar Awards and other Indigenous awards offered by the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto, such as the McCuaig-Throop Bursary and the newly created SGS Inclusive Excellence Graduate Scholarship, each valued at $10,000.

*“Indigenous peoples” is a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. “Aboriginal peoples” is also often used as a synonym. For the purposes of this program, the University of Toronto uses the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 definition of Aboriginal peoples as including the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.

Eligibility

Applicants must:

  • Be a Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident, or Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) by the student deadline as determined by each graduate unit;
  • Be registered or intend to register in an eligible program on a full-time basis in 2024-2025;
  • An eligible program is defined as a full-time program of study of two or three terms at the University of Toronto leading to a graduate degree. A full-time student is one who is in at least 60% of a full course load (40% for students with a permanent disability) or as defined by their institution. Program eligibility is determined individually by each graduate unit. Students should carefully review the information outlined by the graduate unit they intend to be registered in, to determine if their program is eligible for the graduate unit’s OGS competition
  • Have not exceeded the lifetime maximum of government-funded support or maximum OGS/QEII-GSST support available for their current level of study (see SGS OGS website under maximum support); and
  • Have achieved at least A- (or equivalent) in each of the last two completed years of study (full-time equivalent); or if the student has completed two years of graduate studies at the time of application, the student must only demonstrate an overall average of at least A- (or equivalent) on all graduate courses completed.
    • NEW: At the graduate unit’s discretion, exceptions may be made for highly meritorious applicants who are below the required GPA minimum. Examples of cases in which a unit may consider granting an exception include (but are not limited to): applicants with documented medical issues or family care responsibilities, applicants who have pursued alternative career paths, or mature students with professional experience. Contact your proposed graduate unit(s) to confirm their use of this eligibility criterion.

Note: If marks used for calculating an applicant’s grade point average (GPA) are not available (e.g., courses were graded on a pass-fail basis), then the next most recent available undergraduate or graduate marks should be used to determine eligibility.

To be eligible to hold the OGS, recipients:

  • Must register and remain enrolled as a full-time student at U of T in an eligible program at the graduate unit from which the OGS was awarded;
  • Who withdraw, transfer to part-time status, complete degree requirements prior to the end of their award, or fail to complete the full term, will be required to repay any funds received for the incomplete term;
  • Must be in good standing with the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Applicants who have defaulted on a Canada or Ontario Student Loan, or have failed to make satisfactory repayment on a loan overpayment, are ineligible to receive the award. Students who have never applied for OSAP are in good standing.  Those with an OSAP restriction may still apply for the OGS. However, if awarded, they must have the restriction cleared within 30 days of notification in order to accept and hold the award;
  • May accept research assistantships, part-time teaching positions, or other paid employment that does not affect their status as a full-time graduate student and is commensurate with the graduate unit policies. Typically, students holding full-time paid employment are not eligible to receive an OGS from the University of Toronto; and
  • Cannot hold an OGS award in the same session (overlapping) or from the same award year as a scholarship from SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR, QEII-GSST, or another OGS.

The eligibility criteria provided above are the minimum requirements only. Graduate units may impose additional criteria to apply, receive, or hold an OGS. Please carefully review the information outlined by your graduate unit, and inquire if necessary, regarding any additional requirements or conditions to those listed here.

Application Process

Applicants must submit an OGS application to their proposed graduate unit using the U of T OGS Application Form, accessible through the SGS OGS webpage.

Each graduate unit will have their own internal submission deadline to which applicants must adhere. Applicants should verify the graduate unit application deadline and review the U of T OGS Application Instructions prior to starting an OGS application.

Once the entire application has been completed and submitted online, it will be made available to the proposed graduate unit for review and consideration.

Important note for prospective students: OGS awards are not transferrable between universities or between graduate units at U of T. Accordingly, students must submit an OGS application to each graduate unit for which they are seeking admission at U of T and to each Ontario institution if applying to multiple universities (each institution will have its own unique OGS application and process).

OGS applicants who wish to be considered for other awards that also use the OGS application for their selection process must select “Yes” on the OGS application form’s “Awards and Financial Aid” page to give permission to the proposed graduate unit and SGS to use your OGS application for other award competitions, if available.

Results

Graduate units will update their competition results on the OGS application system, viewable by applicants by June 3, 2024. Official OGS award offers will be issued by SGS starting July 2024.

Contacts & Resources

For more information, visit the SGS OGS webpage.

Please direct questions regarding the OGS competition or nomination process to awards.dlsph@utoronto.ca

Questions regarding the administration of the award at SGS and technical support for the application may be directed to:

Debbie Chau, Graduate Awards Officer
Graduate Awards Office
School of Graduate Studies
debbie.chau@utoronto.ca