Payments + Policies

Admission Funding Offer + Guaranteed Minimum Funding

Admission Funding Offer  - if you receive an Admission Funding Offer, it will outline the financial support being provided as part of admission to a graduate program. For details on funding, program expectations, and important policies, please refer to the Graduate Admission Handbook, which provides comprehensive information to help navigate the first steps for new graduate students.

Points of note, which are outlined in the Graduate Admission Handbook include:

• Your funding offer is connected to the academic unit, degree program and term of admission; changes to any of these may change your funding.
• Most funding offers include a variety of sources of financial support including Teaching Assistantships (TA) and Research Assistantships (RA). 
• In some instances, the funding sources may need to vary to meet the funding obligation but, subject to available funding, the total amount of support will equal or exceed the offer of funding.
• If you decline or fail to apply for or accept any component of your funding offer (i.e. scholarship or TA), your funding will be reduced by the associated amount for that year. 
• Incidents beyond the control of your home department (e.g., job action) may affect your funding.  

Guaranteed Minimum Funding  - starting September 2024, SFU has minimum funding for eligible and entering PhD students, valued at $28,000 per year for up to 4 years. Graduate General Regulation 1.17 outlines the overarching, university-wide rules, while each program has its own minimum funding policy, outlining their unit-level policy.  

Points of note, which are outlined in GGR 1.17 include: 

• Funds can come from various sources, including internal and external scholarships, employment RA and TA assignments, and research funding provided by a supervisor. Funds received through Financial Aid & Awards are excluded.
• Students will not receive program-level funding when on an approved leave of absence, or when enrolled in co-operative education or internship.
• Unsatisfactory performance may result in an overall reduction of funding, but funding may not be reduced or withheld without approval of the graduate program chair and the Faculty of Graduate Studies.
• If you decline or fail to apply for or accept any component of your funding offer (i.e. scholarship or TA), your funding will be reduced by the associated amount for that year.

View Graduate Student Admission Handbook →

View Graduate General Regulations →

Deferrals, Leave of Absence, Withdrawals

You must be enrolled in the program for the term in which you are set to receive payments. Academic units and/or students must advise Graduate Studies as soon as possible to arrange for an award offer or payment to be held, deferred or cancelled due to a change in program, enrollment or award eligibility. Forms needed for enrollment changes can be found on the Graduate Student Forms page.

Retroactive enrolment changes will lead to an award reversal. The amount reversed will be prorated to the effective date of the change, and this may result in funds being owed to the university.

If you defer admission: 

• Some internal and donor awards cannot be deferred beyond an academic year. In most cases, award offers will be cancelled, and awards will need to be re-applied for or re-nominated for the following year. 
• For CIHR, SSHRC or NSERC scholarships, students must review the Tri-agency Award Holders guide and complete the Request for Deferment of Start Date or Interruption of Award Form. This form should be sent to Graduate Studies (gradawards@sfu.ca) for signature and processing. 

If you are applying for a leave of absence:  

• Internal, donor funded, and Tri-agency awards cannot be paid in a term for which a student is on leave, with the exception of tri-agency parental leave payments. 
• For CIHR, SSHRC, or NSERC scholarships, students must review the Tri-Agency Award Holders Guide, complete the Request for Deferment of Start Date or Interruption of Award form and send the form to Graduate Studies (gradawards@sfu.ca) for signature. 
• NSERC and SSHRC awardees upload the complete form in the appropriate secure submission site

If you are withdrawing from your graduate program: 

• Any unpaid internal and donor funded awards will be cancelled. Paid awards may be reversed; the amount reversed will be prorated to the effective date of the change which may result in funds being owed to the university.
• For CIHR, SSHRC, or NSERC scholarships: students must review the Tri-Agency Award Holders Guide and complete the Request for termination of award form. Send this form to Graduate Studies (gradawards@sfu.ca) for signature and processing. 

View Tri-agency Award Holder’s Guide →

Visit the Forms Page →

Changes to Research, Department and/or Supervisor

Tri-agency (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) award holders who are changing their proposed research, graduate program, department and/or supervisor, must submit a 1 page outline of the changes to Graduate Studies (gradawards@sfu.ca).

Early Completion with Award Payments

Academic units and/or students must advise Graduate Studies as soon as possible to arrange for an award offer or payment to be held or cancelled pending early completion. 

• For internal and donor funded awards: awards are prorated to the end of the month in which students complete their degree program, which is normally the date the final copy of the student’s thesis is accepted by the SFU Library.
• For CIHR, SSHRC, or NSERC scholarships: students must review the Tri-Agency Award Holders Guide and complete the Request for termination of award form. Send this form to Graduate Studies (gradawards@sfu.ca) for signature and processing. As per the Tri-agency award holder guide, for awards terminated due to degree completion, the end date of the award will become the end date of the academic term in which the degree requirements are completed.  

View Graduate Student Admission Handbook →

View Tri-agency Award Holder’s Guide →

Funding Maximums + Award Limits

Senate regulations governing university awards state that the priority for internal (SFU) scholarship funds will be given to students whose total existing funding is less than $60,000 per year. However, units may still award funding that exceeds this threshold at their discretion.  

View Graduate Student Admission Handbook →

Unaccepted + Retroactive Award Payments  

Generally, awards are not paid retroactively once a new term starts, and any previously offered/not accepted award offfers will be cancelled. Timely processing ensures that payments align with student registration, fee deadlines, and financial systems and record keeping.

Tuition Waivers

Some awards and funding restrict payments to students who have tuition waivers; visit the Terms of Reference for specific awards to learn more. The following SFU award(s) have this restriction:

• For the PhD Research Scholarship, students who later receive an SFU tuition waiver for the same term will have the value of the PhD Research Scholarship reversed.

Working Professionals

Some awards and funding restrict payments to students who are working professionals. A working professional is an individual who has completed formal specialized education or training in a particular area and/or has recognized competence in that area and is employed in a job where their specialized knowledge is required. This includes, but is not limited to, professions such as teacher, counsellor, accountant, consultant, electrician, analyst, plumber, engineer, or physician.

The following SFU award(s) have this restriction:

• For the PhD Research Scholarship, students who are working professionals should decline the award offer and/or declare themselves not eligible with Graduate Studies to prevent further offers of this award. 

Awards + Employment

For SFU internal awards and Tri-agency awards, students are expected to limit their number of hours of employment in order to excel in their graduate program, especially when given award funding to do so.  Students, supervisors and/or graduate programs with concerns should contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies.