Student Awards

Types of awards

There are over 1,900 awards available to NAIT students, including:

Award type	About
Scholarship	Scholarships reward you for your academic achievement and accomplishments. Awarded to students who: Demonstrate excellent academic achievement Have completed a minimum of 18 credits in the past 12 months
Bursaries	Bursaries are based on financial need. They are awarded to students who: Maintain satisfactory academic achievement (students with a failure or incomplete may still qualify) Demonstrate financial need
Grants	Grants can be based on financial need or other criteria set by the grant provider, like supporting equity, diversity and underrepresented groups.
Entrance awards	Entrance awards are available to incoming applicants and new students to NAIT. Once admitted, you can use these funds towards your first-year tuition and fees.
Other awards	In addition to those above, there are other awards available that recognize everything from leadership and community involvement to program-specific milestones and career goals, and more!

Each award has different award criteria and eligibility requirements. This criteria could include your program of study, academic performance, financial need or other factors like leadership. 

Award application deadlines

When you can apply for awards will depend on your term and your studies. Check the award application deadlines to know when your award application opens and the deadline to submit (for most awards).  

To be considered for an award, you need to submit your application by the listed deadline. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

View award deadlines

Put your best into your award application

Before you get started, be sure to review these application tips and tricks:

Tip	More information
Take your time	There’s no need to rush through your application. You’ll be able to save your progress and return to the application at any point during the application process.
Read instructions carefully	The award application contains detailed instructions at each step to help you through the application process. Be sure to read each question carefully and answer truthfully.
Double check your personal information	The application determines your eligibility for specific awards based on your personal information. If your information is not accurate, you may not be considered for certain awards.
Answer essay questions thoroughly	Provide all the information requested, especially for essay questions. When writing essays, address each point required in the essay question – be sure to give specific examples whenever possible! Be aware that the use of any Generative AI tools is not permitted and may void your submission.
Pay attention to details	Your application will be evaluated based on the information you provide. Please be specific and thorough so that your application may be fully considered.
Proofread	The quality of your writing is more important than the quantity of your writing. Before submitting, proofread the written portions of your application for spelling and grammar errors.

 

Keep an eye on your email

An email will be sent to the address listed on your profile on MyNAIT as soon as the awards application is available, so be sure to monitor your email near the award open date.

MyAwards Central - General Application

Once the award application opens, here’s how to complete the general application in MyAwards Central:

1. Log in: Use your NAIT account details (same as MyNAIT) to log into MyAwards Central.
2. My Applications: After logging in, you’ll land on the General Application section. This is your award application, but no stress – you don’t need to fill it out immediately. Just make sure to complete it before the award application deadline.
3. Ready to start: If you’re ready, start answering the application questions and follow the prompts. These will be tailored to your student record, program and earlier answers.
   • Other award opportunities you qualify for may appear – be sure to complete those too!
   • Look out for mandatory fields, marked with an asterisk (*)
   • Save your progress often! You can pick up where you left off at any time.
   • Keep track of your progress on the left side navigation.

Include any additional documents or information

Within your customized awards list, some questions on your application may require additional information or documentation, like a short essay. It’s important to supply all this information so you can be considered for these awards!

• Be sure to take your time and carefully draft your answers to the questions.
• When writing essays, be sure to address each point required in the essay question and give specific examples whenever possible.
• Be aware that the use of any Generative AI tools is not permitted and may void your award submission upon review.

Feeling rushed? Remember, you can save your progress and return to complete the application anytime before the deadline.

Submit your application

Once you’re confident in your answers and have proofread your application, select the Finish and Submit button at the bottom of the application.

• You’ll receive an email confirmation once your award application has been submitted. You may receive more than one confirmation email if you have applied for multiple awards.
• Need to make a change? Once you submit your application, you may go back to edit or update answers up until the award's application deadline; after this deadline, your submission is final and cannot be changed.

Check your My Applications dashboard

In your MyAwards Central you can go to the My Applications view, where you’ll see a snapshot of your applications, including:

• Status is a glance at your application progress. Be sure to click into each status for more information!
• Needs Attention highlighting anything that requires action, like incomplete applications or unaccepted award offers.
• General Applications is where your award applications will display after they have been submitted.
• Current will list the awards and applications you’ve submitted this term/cycle, plus any offers you’ve accepted or declined.

As the award application deadline nears, keep an eye on this section so you don’t miss any new applications or award offers!

When you'll hear back

After the award application closes, it takes about 6-8 weeks for recipients to be notified (some awards may vary). Check the award application deadline to know when recipients are notified and when to expect award payment.

View application deadline

Monitor your email

If you receive an award, you will be notified by email with information about accepting your award in the MyAwards Central, and the deadline for accepting your award.

• You can also monitor your My Applications view in the MyAwards Central as any award offers will display in the Needs Attention section.

If you have not been selected for an award for this term/cycle, you will also be notified via email once the assessment period closes. Be sure to apply again during the next cycle!

Your award offer(s)

If you’ve been selected for an award, you must accept the award offer within 30 days to receive any award payment.  If you miss this deadline or take no action, your award offer will be cancelled and may be offered to another deserving student. So don’t forget this important step!

How to accept an award offer:

1. Log in to the MyAwards Central
2. You’ll notice a banner notification message congratulating you on your offer and a link to Review the offer to accept or decline the award offer.
3. You can also go to the My Application dashboard.
4. View any outstanding award offer(s) in the Needs Attention section.
5. For each offered award, select the Accept button.
6. This will redirect you to the award’s Offer Letter, where you can review general award details. Select Details (top right) to view eligibility criteria and important terms and conditions.
   • Carefully review this information to ensure you still meet all eligibility criteria for the award.
   • If you no longer meet award criteria or will not be attending NAIT anymore, you must decline the offer so we can offer the award to another qualified student.
7. Select the green button to Accept the offer.
8. Once the award offer is accepted, your My Application dashboard will be updated. The accepted award will now display in the Current section.

If you accept or decline your award offer in error, please promptly contact awards@nait.ca so this can be corrected.

Be sure to accept your award before the deadline (30 days after your email notification) to avoid having your award offer cancelled.

If you have not provided your SIN number to NAIT, your funds will be held until this is complete. Check your MyNAIT portal to see if you have an outstanding SIN task in your My Tasks section. If so, please complete this as soon as possible.

Review the award application deadline to know when award recipients can expect award payment.

You’ll receive an email when your award payment has been processed. After receiving this email, it can take up to 2 weeks for your award payment to be disbursed.

Your award amount will either be:

• Applied directly to your outstanding tuition and fees balance or payment plan amount; or
• If there is no balance remaining on your account or if there are award funds remaining, then the award amount will be sent to you via Interac e-transfer (domestic students) or bank transfer (international students) to your preferred email. This process is supported by PayMyTuition. 

For award payment via PayMyTuition, these payments are issued via refunds. Learn more about these payment options in the dropdowns below.

Accepting your e-transfer

Once you have accepted your award payment, you'll receive an initial email from NAIT. Within the next 2 to 6 business days you can expect these emails: 

1. PayMyTuition (studentrefunds@paymytuition.com) will email you to inform you that your Interac e-Transfer email will be issued within the next 24 to 48 hours.

2. You will then receive an Interac e-Transfer email instructing you to log into your MyNAIT portal to retrieve your one-time passcode from your PayMyTuition student portal, which will allow you to securely access and collect your refund payment.

Finding your passcode

Follow these steps to find your one-time passcode in PayMyTuition payment center:

1. Log into your MyNAIT portal.

2. Select the Open Self Service button. 

3. Select the Financial Account tile to access the PayMyTuition Payment Center. 4.Select your financial institution (bank) location to be redirected to PayMyTuition.  5. Within the PayMyTuition portal, select the Refunds tile. 6. In the Refunds section, you can access the Outstanding Refunds tab and click on the icon within the Action column to retrieve your one-time passcode.

7. Then return to the Interac e-Transfer email communication to select the Deposit your Money button, where you'll input the one-time passcode.

• Is your email is set up for Autodeposits with your bank? If so, you won't need a one-time passcode. Just select to deposit your funds, sign in to your bank and the refund will automatically deposit when you sign in.

8. After inputting your one-time passcode, you will be redirected to the following page to select your Canadian financial institution.

Collecting your award payment

Once you have accepted your award, you receive an email from NAIT noting that the award payment process has started. The following will happen next: 

1. Within 2 to 6 business days, you will receive an email from PayMyTuition (studentrefunds@paymytuition.com). This email will provide further instructions on how to complete your award payment (known as a refund, in this case).

2. You may choose to deposit the funds into someone else’s bank account. When you are directed to the PayMyTuition refund form, you will have the option within the Beneficiary Information tab to select someone else as the recipient and input their bank information.

a. Enter beneficiary details: Complete the online refund beneficiary instruction form, which requires currency, identification documentation (either passport or driver’s license), banking and beneficiary information.

b. Complete verification: Upon receipt of your completed beneficiary instructions, PayMyTuition will verify your request for accuracy. They will complete fraud and compliance checks to comply with various anti-money laundering and compliance laws.

c. Payment confirmation: PayMyTuition will send you a confirmation email once your beneficiary information has been verified and approved. You will receive a PDF summary that is password protected. This PDF can be accessed using the bank account number that you provided in Step 2 a. as the password.

d. Refund processed: Once your refund has been processed, you will receive a notification that your refund (award payment) is complete. Please allow 3 to 5 business days for the payment to be deposited to your account.

If you receive an award from NAIT, you will receive a T4A slip to include on your next tax return. It provides the amount of funds a student has received in scholarships, bursaries and awards from January to December of any given year. 

Tax receipts are typically available at end of February each year and will be posted to your MyNAIT portal.

For more information, please reference the following: 

• Income tax information for Canadian students 
• Income tax information for international students