Managing Your Award
Award payments
Questions always arise around the payment of Awards and how to handle different payment situations. Below we have tried to answer some of your questions.
Most government-funded award payments such as CGS-M, NSERC Doctoral, SSHRC Doctoral, OGS, QEII-GSST, will be paid to your student account in three equal installments per year for the duration of the scholarship.
Internal awards are often paid out in one installment at the beginning of the semester. The value of the award and the semester(s) that the award will be credited to your student account will be communicated to you when you are notified about the award. Typically notification about awards will be sent to your Gryphmail account.
Scholarship payments are processed through Student Financial Services (SFS) at the beginning of each semester. Your scholarship will be applied to your student account in equal installments for the duration of your funding or one time for a single scholarship payment (typically awards less than $5,000). You will see your scholarship in WebAdvisor once it is open for the semester; usually at least one month prior to the payment deadline.
When the scholarship is visible in WebAdvisor it may look like it has been applied toward the balance of your student account. This is not the case; the Graduate Settlement must be completed in order to inform Student Financial Services (SFS) that you wish to pay your account balance using your scholarship funds. The Graduate Settlement must be completed each semester that you wish to pay your account using your scholarship. SFS posts a deadline by which you must complete the Graduate Settlement. If you choose to do the Graduate Settlement after this date, you will be charged $60 for a late processing fee.
When completing the Graduate Settlement, select “Awards (scholarships)” as the method of payment.
If you are unsure if your Graduate Settlement has been received by SFS, log into WebAdvisor and check “Registration Billing”. At the bottom of Registration Billing you will see the following notation: “Graduate Settlement has processed”.
Contacts & Resources
If you have questions about the Graduate Settlement or the scholarship on your student account, please email Student Financial Services at accquest@uoguelph.ca.
If you have a credit balance on your student account please visit the following link to the Student Financial Services website for information on refunds.
The University of Guelph is pleased to offer a top-up of $5,000 per year to all CGS-M and many CIHR Doctoral, NSERC Doctoral, and SSHRC Doctoral scholarship recipients (Vanier CGS-D and CIHR/NSERC/SSHRC CGS-D recipients are not eligible) for the duration that the scholarship is held. Recipients do not need to do anything to initiate the top-up; it will automatically be applied to their student account.
The Deans’ Tri-Council Scholarship is awarded in three equal installments per year for the duration of the scholarship (approximately $1,666 per semester).
Interrupting or Cancelling your Award
If you plan to take a leave of absence from your program, you must contact the Award Officers in OGPS (grschol@uoguelph.ca) as soon as possible to determine how this will affect your award. For government-funded scholarships, such as CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, OGS, QEII-GSST, there are specific reasons that an award may be interrupted. It is your responsibility to consult the terms of the funding. In all cases the interruption must be approved by the Awards Officers ahead of the start date of the leave of absence.
Paid Parental Leave
If you hold a CIHR, SSHRC or NSERC award or you are receive funding from your advisor’s CIHR, SSHRC or NSERC grant, you may be eligible for paid parental leave. Please review the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder’s Guide for complete details.
If you think you are eligible, please email the Graduate Awards Officers (grschol@uoguelph.ca) prior to submitting an Application for Leave of Absence & Withdrawal form to our office. There are additional steps and documentation required to request paid parental leave.
Most awards specify that the holder must be registered for an entire term to be eligible to receive that semester’s award instalment. If you are going to be here for less than the entire term, you should contact the Awards Officers in OGPS (grschol@uoguelph.ca) to find out if you need to return all or a part of the award. You should consult your graduate department or College for awards distributed by them, as policies vary.