Northwestern Territories Funding

Do you come from the land of the Great Bear Lake, the Great Slave Lake, and the mystical Aurora Borealis? Are you wishing to pursue higher education in your region but are unsure of how to proceed due to financial constraints? Well, the government of the Northwest Territories is here to help you in that regard.

Like the many provinces and territories of Canada, the Northwest Territories too has its own set of student aid programs that help prospective students to get into a prime university in the region. Regardless of your status as a fresh, high school graduate, or an experienced professional looking to brush up their skills, there are multitudes of programs such as Northwest Territories Grants, Northwest Territories Loans, and Northwest Territories Scholarships and Bursaries to make college education feasible for one and all. 

Student Categories

Before you explore Northwest student aid programs, you must understand that the student categories determine the type of provincial funding offered to a student. Every post-secondary student in the province can be roughly summarized in three categories: Northern Indigenous Resident, Northern Resident Schooled in the NWT and Northern Resident Not Schooled in the NWT.

Northern Indigenous Resident: If you are a member or a descendant of the Dene, Métis, Inuvialuit, or Inuit, and are schooled in NWT, then you can be identified as a Northern Indigenous Resident.

Northern Resident Schooled in the NWT: In case you don’t qualify as an Indigenous resident, you can still avail of the student aid schemes as long as you have completed schooling in the region or your parents are considered NWT residents.

Northern Resident Not Schooled in the NWT: You are categorized as a Northern Resident Not Schooled in the NWT if you completed your schooling outside NWT and were not considered a NWT resident during that time.

An important point to be noted is that if you are receiving a grant, loan or funding from other regions, provinces, territories or straight from the federal agencies, then you are not eligible for Northwest Territories’ Student Financial Aid.

Now let’s delve into the brief details of the provincial programs of student financial assistance: 

Northwest Territories Grants

Special grants are in place to help individuals from various student categories listed above. Some of the popular grant programs include: 

Basic Grant

This grant, which is applicable for Northern Indigenous and Northern Schooled applicants, will take care of your tuition fees, the cost for procuring textbooks and travel expenses.

Supplementary Grant

As the name suggests, the Supplementary Grant is applicable for monetary aspects of a college education other than tuition fees, such as accommodation rent, food and utility expenses as well as the cost for using local transport.

Grants for Students with Permanent Disabilities

This grant takes care of the tuition cost, textbook cost, accommodation and travel expenses of permanently disabled students.

Grant for Services and Equipment for Students with Permanent Disabilities

The extra expenses for the services availed by disabled students such as a tutor, interpreter and other mechanical/electronic aids are covered by this grant.

Northwest Territories Loans

Providing a monthly maximum of $1400, Northwest Territories Loans are offered to students who require financial assistance for covering their tuition fees, their accommodation, as well as their food and other utilities. The loan is allocated on the basis of the student’s financial condition.

Northwest Territories Scholarships and Bursaries

While the provincial government, in general, doesn’t provide any scholarships or bursary programs for post-secondary education, there is the sole exception of French Post-Secondary Bursary. An amount of $1000 per semester (up to a maximum of $2000 per school year) is awarded to NWT residents pursuing French in any Canadian institution, with only a handful of bursary awards offered each year.

For more opportunities to get scholarships or bursaries, try out National Indigenous Scholarship Program, NorthwesTel Northern Futures Scholarship, Leo Memorial Scholarship, Josie Gould Memorial Scholarship or North American Van Lines Canada Scholarship. These options are by no means exhaustive.

So, have you picked a school yet? Explore your options now!