University of Ottawa

Funding plan · University of Ottawa

Match every cost with a funding source

  1. 1EstimateTuition, fees, living costs
  2. 2AutomaticEntrance awards and criteria
  3. 3ApplyScholarships and bursaries
  4. 4Close the gapAid, work, family budget
QS World#219Large university

University of Ottawa Costs & Financial Aid

Ottawa, Ontario

Tuition planning, scholarships, and international budgets. This focused guide keeps the detailed tables, official sources, and practical next steps in one manageable reading path.

Reviewed August 14, 2026 · Information checked against official university sources · How we review guides

Tuition, Scholarships, and Aid

2026–2027 tuition, scholarships, bursaries, OSAP, and work study

University of Ottawa scholarships and financial aid

A strong uOttawa funding plan keeps tuition, automatic entrance scholarships, application-based bursaries, OSAP, international tuition reductions, and student employment separate. The route that applies depends on residency, program language, faculty, admission average, and demonstrated financial need.

Domestic admission award

$1,000–$3,000

Automatic for eligible direct-entry students with an 85%–100% admission average under the current 2026–2027 rules.

English international awards

Up to $70,000

A renewable $60,000 automatic award plus a competitive, one-time $10,000 award for selected eligible students.

French international exemption

$12,500–$18,000/term

An automatic faculty-based tuition reduction for eligible international students studying in French or French Immersion.

uOttawa tuition and fee examples for 2026–2027

uOttawa publishes these examples to show how tuition and common ancillary charges combine for one full-time first-year undergraduate. They are planning references—not prices for every program. Faculty association, incidental, administrative, housing, food, books, and personal costs can still be additional.

Example studentFall tuitionFall totalWinter totalTwo-term total
Ontario undergraduate$3,104.96$3,792.32$3,787.11$7,579.43
International undergraduate$31,582.15$32,585.51$32,580.30$65,165.81

The international example includes $316 of UHIP in each term. Use the official estimator workflow and the student's statement of account for the authoritative total.

2026–27

How Ontario tuition changed for 2026–27

Confirmed

Tuition for Ontario students increased 2% for 2026–2027, with two published exceptions for students entering or continuing: a 6.63% increase for undergraduate dual fast-track degrees in Engineering and Science, and a 7.5% increase for all Telfer School of Management programs. Students who do not progress normally between tuition brackets can face a sharper increase.

Ontario high schoolOther CanadianTransferMature

uOttawa Financial Aid and Awards: Tuition for Canadian students from Ontario · Verified August 14, 2026

2026–27

International tuition caps and the 2026–27 freeze

Confirmed

International undergraduate tuition for 2026–2027 is unchanged from 2025–2026 for students entering first year or returning. For students admitted for Fall 2022 or later, uOttawa commits that future annual tuition increases will not exceed 7%; international fees themselves are unregulated by the Ontario framework.

International

uOttawa Financial Aid and Awards: Tuition for international students · Verified August 14, 2026

Four applications and assessments to keep separate

Automatic admission awards

The University of Ottawa Admission Scholarship and qualifying language-based awards are assessed without a separate award application.

Online Scholarships and Bursaries

After receiving uoAccess credentials, use the portal for matched donor, faculty, need-based, and specialized opportunities.

Government student aid

Apply separately to OSAP or the student's home-province or home-country program; uOttawa does not replace that application.

Work-Study Navigator

Complete the financial questionnaire and separate work-study application for eligible on-campus employment.

Fall 2027 deadline status

Do not reuse uOttawa's 2025–2026 award deadlines

Reviewed July 29, 2026, uOttawa had not published a complete Fall 2027 undergraduate scholarship and bursary calendar. The main admission scholarship is automatic, but application-based awards use their own portal dates. Apply early, obtain a uoAccess ID, and verify each live listing instead of treating a prior-cycle date as a 2027 deadline.

University of Ottawa Admission Scholarship

The current admission scholarship is automatic for eligible full-time students entering a direct-entry faculty or the Civil Law Section. No separate scholarship application is required. Mature applicants and university transfers are not eligible for this specific award.

Admission averageFirst-year value
95%–100%$3,000
90%–94.9%$2,000
85%–89.9%$1,000

uOttawa financial-aid checklist

  1. 1.Use the official fee table for the student's exact program, residency status, and course load; the examples below are not universal prices.
  2. 2.Add residence or rent, food, books, incidental fees, health coverage, travel, winter clothing, and an emergency reserve.
  3. 3.Apply for admission early enough to receive the uoAccess credentials needed for Online Scholarships and Bursaries.
  4. 4.Separate automatic awards from application-based scholarships, need-based bursaries, government aid, work study, and external funding.
  5. 5.Recheck every award's live eligibility, deadline, and combination rules before accepting an offer.

International scholarships: English, French, and French Immersion

International applicants should choose a funding route that matches the actual language and faculty of their program. The English awards exclude French Immersion, while the Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship requires approved French or French Immersion study. Values cannot be compared without checking the number of eligible terms and renewal conditions.

ScholarshipCurrent valueCurrent eligibility summary
International English Admission Scholarship$7,500 per term; up to $60,000Automatic for eligible new international students with at least 80% in an approved English-language undergraduate program; renewable for up to 12 instalments while the current conditions are met.
International English Academic Excellence Scholarship$10,000100 non-renewable awards for eligible new international students with at least 90%; selected students can combine it with the International English Admission Scholarship.
Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship$12,500–$18,000 per eligible termAutomatic for eligible international-fee students in an approved French program or French Immersion Stream who meet the full-time and French-course-load rules; the amount depends on the faculty.

Domestic-fee students studying in French can also review the automatic $4,000 French Studies Bursary, paid as $1,000 per year under the current course-load and renewal rules. It is different from the international tuition-fee exemption.

Current award

French Studies Bursary for domestic-fee students

Confirmed

The $4,000 French Studies Bursary ($1,000 per year) is automatic for full-time students in a direct-entry faculty or Civil Law taking at least three courses (9 units) taught in French each term — or two courses (6 units) in French or French-as-a-second-language for French Immersion students. Renewal for the following three years requires the same course load and a minimum 5.50 CGPA at the end of each academic year.

Ontario high schoolOther Canadian

uOttawa Financial Aid and Awards: Admission scholarships 2026–2027 overview · Verified August 14, 2026

Winter 2024 admissions and later

Francophone and French Immersion tuition exemption

Confirmed

International-fee students who start in Winter 2024 or later in an approved French program — or an English program with the French Immersion Stream, meeting immersion admission requirements — receive the automatic Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship: $12,500 per eligible term in most faculties, $16,000 at Telfer, and $18,000 in Engineering and the Science Biotechnology and Physics–Electrical Engineering combined degrees. It requires full-time study with at least three courses (9 units) taught in French per term and can run up to 12 payments at the original amount.

This is uOttawa's bilingual-pathway advantage: the exemption offsets most of the difference between international and domestic tuition while conditions are met.

International

uOttawa Financial Aid and Awards: Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship · Verified August 14, 2026

Bursaries and the Online Scholarships and Bursaries portal

Applicants can use the portal as soon as they have applied and received a uoAccess ID and password. It contains admission opportunities for new applicants, awards for enrolled students, faculty and donor funding, and need-based bursaries. Each listing controls its own citizenship, residency, program, documents, and deadline.

uOttawa's general admission-award eligibility normally expects a first full-time undergraduate enrolment plus Canadian citizenship, permanent residence, protected-person, or refugee status unless the listing says otherwise. International applicants should use the opportunities explicitly open to international-fee students rather than assuming every bursary applies.

OSAP at uOttawa

Eligible Ontario residents submit one OSAP application per academic year. uOttawa recommends applying early because processing can take six to eight weeks. Full-time funding is normally applied to the student account first; any remainder after university fees is deposited to the student.

Co-op students apply separately for every term—including work terms—for which they want OSAP. Undergraduate scholarships and bursaries are paid on study terms, not work terms, so the cash-flow plan should follow the student's actual sequence.

Read the 2026–2027 OSAP guide

Work-Study Program

The current application windows are August 1–October 13, 2026 for fall, December 1, 2026–February 11, 2027 for winter, and March 18–June 14, 2027 for spring-summer. Students complete a financial questionnaire in Work-Study Navigator and must meet academic, course-load, and tuition conditions.

Work study is employment, not a guaranteed grant. Treat expected earnings conservatively until eligibility is approved and an actual position is secured.

Cost Planning

TuitionTuition depends on program, student status, and year. Verify domestic and international tuition on the official fee schedule.
ScholarshipsCheck automatic entrance awards, competitive major awards, faculty scholarships, and international-student awards.
Living CostsBudget for residence or rent, food, books, transit, health insurance, winter clothing, and emergency funds.
Proof of FundsInternational students should confirm current study-permit financial requirements and school-specific cost estimates.

Official Sources and Next Steps

Stellar keeps this guide structured for comparison, but official university pages remain the source of truth for program requirements, tuition, residence, scholarships, deadlines, and policy changes.

Prepared by Stellar Advisers Editorial Team · Reviewed August 14, 2026 · Editorial, corrections, and source methodology