Carleton University Scholarships for International Students 2026/27

Carleton University in Ottawa runs one of Canada’s most structured undergraduate scholarship systems, and — unusually — it publishes the structure clearly enough that an international family can model four years of funding before applying. Every high school entrant with an admission average of 80% or higher is automatically considered for a renewable entrance scholarship. International students entering in September 2027 are additionally considered for the President’s Welcome Award, worth CAD 2,000–5,000 in first year on top of the entrance scholarship. And students with a 90%+ average and a genuine extracurricular record can compete for Carleton’s Prestige Scholarships, the university’s highest awards, worth up to CAD 32,000 over four years — with one award covering full tuition, though capped at the Canadian domestic rate.

This guide is built from Carleton’s official Awards and Financial Aid and Undergraduate Admissions pages for the 2026/27 and 2027/28 cycles. It is precise about the two things applicants most often get wrong: which Prestige awards international students can realistically win and what “full tuition” means when you pay international fees, and the fact that Carleton’s automatic entrance tiers are assessed on the grades in your offer — entrance scholarship offers are not reassessed on final high school grades. It also covers Carleton’s frozen international tuition for 2026/27 to 2028/29, because a scholarship is only meaningful next to the bill it offsets.

Explore the university in our Carleton University profile on StudyGraduate, compare Ottawa with other destinations in our guide to scholarships in Canada, and browse further funding in the StudyGraduate scholarships directory.

Carleton University Scholarships at a Glance

Two reading notes on this table. First, Carleton’s international admissions pages summarise the automatic entrance value as CAD 1,000–3,000 per year while its detailed awards listings publish the four tiers up to CAD 4,000 per year shown above — tiers and totals can shift between entry years, so the figures in your own offer letter are the ones to budget on. Second, a Prestige Scholarship supersedes an entrance scholarship: if you win a Prestige award, it replaces the automatic one rather than stacking on top of it.

Why Carleton? Ottawa, Frozen Tuition and a Generous Awards Culture

Carleton sits on a green campus between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River in Canada’s capital — home to the federal public service, a large diplomatic community and a growing technology sector in Kanata. For students interested in public affairs, politics, journalism, international business, engineering and computer science, the location is part of the degree. Carleton itself states it has one of the most generous scholarship and bursary programs in Canada, reporting more than 12,600 scholarships and bursaries totalling over CAD 26.5 million awarded to undergraduate students in the last reported year, and a top-five national ranking for scholarships and bursaries in the Maclean’s 2026 University Rankings.

The budget context is unusually predictable: Carleton has frozen international undergraduate tuition for the 2026/2027, 2027/2028 and 2028/2029 academic years. Published tuition per academic year is CAD 39,000 for most arts, science, social science and humanities programs (including Journalism, Public Affairs and Policy Management, Health Sciences and the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, whose miscellaneous fees are higher), CAD 45,000 for Accounting, Commerce, Entrepreneurship and Media Production and Design, and CAD 55,000 for Architectural Studies, Computer Science, Cyber Security, Data Science, Engineering, Industrial Design and Information Technology — plus roughly CAD 2,500 in miscellaneous fees (which include UHIP health insurance and a transit pass and are not frozen). On-campus residence with a meal plan is estimated at CAD 14,010 for eight months, and off-campus housing and food at about CAD 16,000. A renewable entrance scholarship plus the President’s Welcome Award will not make Carleton cheap — but with tuition frozen, the gap you must fund is knowable three years in advance, which is rare in Canada.

Automatic Entrance Scholarships: The Tier System

Carleton’s entrance scholarships are automatically offered to high school students who meet the university’s academic and language requirements, with the amount based on previous academic performance — no application, no form, no deadline beyond admission itself. Carleton’s published tier table is: admission average 95–100% — CAD 4,000 per year, up to CAD 16,000 over four years; 90–94.9% — CAD 3,000 per year, up to CAD 12,000; 85–89.9% — CAD 2,000 per year, up to CAD 8,000; 80–84.9% — CAD 1,000 per year, up to CAD 4,000. International students are eligible for these merit-based awards on the same tier structure, with Carleton converting your school’s grades into its admission average.

To be considered, Carleton must receive your complete application for admission and all required grades by June 15 for fall entry, and you must be entering Carleton for the first time from high school or CEGEP with no previous attendance at a post-secondary institution. Two operational details deserve emphasis. First, entrance scholarship offers are based on your admission grades at the time of offer and, as Carleton states, are not assessed or reassessed on final high school grades — the offer you receive is the offer you plan on, which removes the end-of-year uncertainty built into some other universities’ systems, but also means a late grade surge will not raise your tier. Second, renewal requires an annual GPA of 10.0 (A- standing) in full-time studies. Carleton’s system has a humane feature here: if you miss the A- standard in one year, the scholarship is not permanently lost — it can be regained in a future year when you achieve the required GPA. Transfer students are not in this system at entry; excellent transfer students become eligible for general in-course scholarships after completing one full academic year of full-time study at Carleton.

President’s Welcome Award for International Students — CAD 2,000–5,000 Extra

On top of the entrance tiers, international undergraduate students applying for a program starting in September 2027 are automatically considered for the President’s Welcome Award for International Students, valued at CAD 2,000–5,000 depending on your grades at the time of admission. Carleton is explicit that this award is offered in addition to other entrance scholarships — it stacks, unlike a Prestige award — and that it is available only to international students entering directly from high school and paying international student fees, and only for the first year. Model it honestly: a 95%+ entrant in September 2027 could reasonably see CAD 4,000 (entrance tier) plus up to CAD 5,000 (Welcome Award) in first-year awards, then CAD 4,000 per year of entrance scholarship in later years if the A- renewal standard is held. That is a solid, plannable package — and it is exactly why you should also read the Prestige section before deciding where to aim.

Prestige Scholarships: Carleton’s Highest Awards, Honestly Explained

Carleton’s Prestige Scholarships are its highest-value entrance awards, and one application form covers all of them: the Chancellor’s Scholarship, the Richard Lewar Entrance Scholarship, the Carleton University Scholarship of Excellence, the Carleton University SHAD Scholarship, the Jay Woo and CAA Scholarship, and the Riordon Scholarship (a further Collins Prestige Scholarship is also named in Carleton’s awards materials). The 2027–2028 application opened in October 2026, and the submission deadline is March 1, 2027.

The values, from Carleton’s official Prestige page, are: Chancellor’s Scholarships — ten awards of CAD 32,000 (CAD 8,000 per year over four years); Richard Lewar Entrance Scholarships — seven awards totalling CAD 21,500 (CAD 6,500 in first year, then CAD 5,000 in each of years two to four); Carleton University Scholarships of Excellence — three awards of CAD 20,000 (CAD 5,000 per year); Carleton University SHAD Scholarships — two awards of CAD 20,000; Jay Woo and CAA Scholarship — CAD 20,000; and the Riordon Scholarship — one award covering full tuition in each of the four years. All are renewable with an annual GPA of 10.0. Carleton’s international pages summarise the Prestige range as CAD 5,000 to CAD 14,178 per year, which reflects the per-year values across the family (the Riordon’s domestic-tuition value varies by program).

Eligibility is strict and identical across the family. You must be entering Carleton directly from high school or CEGEP, pursuing post-secondary studies for the first time — students who have previously attended any college or university are not eligible. You must hold an admission average of 90% or better, and the selection committee additionally assesses the range of your community and secondary school extracurricular activities, including leadership roles. Carleton’s guidance to international school counsellors confirms that Carleton’s scholarships, including the Prestige Scholarships, are available to international students — so as an international applicant you may apply. Now the honesty that matters for your budget: the Riordon Scholarship’s “full tuition” is capped at the Canadian domestic full tuition fee amount. As an international student you would still owe the difference between domestic and international tuition — on a CAD 39,000–55,000 international fee, that difference is the majority of the bill. The Chancellor’s CAD 32,000 over four years is, for most international winners, the more useful headline to plan around.

The mechanics are old-fashioned and easy to get wrong: download the single Prestige application form, open and complete it in Adobe, and email it to the Awards Office together with a signed reference letter, including your Carleton student number, by March 1, 2027 (if the date falls on a weekend, submit by the first working day after). An unsigned reference letter or a missing student number is a preventable rejection.

Bursaries and In-Course Awards

Beyond scholarships, Carleton operates entrance and in-course bursaries assessed on financial need — including a general Carleton Entrance Bursary and a Leadership Entrance Bursary recognising school and community leadership — plus a deep bench of faculty, program and donor awards that continuing students access once enrolled. Need-based bursary eligibility for international students is more limited than for domestic students, and assessed case by case through the Awards Office; treat bursaries as a supplement you explore after arrival rather than a pillar of your pre-arrival budget. The in-course system is the reliable second chapter: strong grades in your first full year open general in-course scholarships (this is also the route for transfer students), and each faculty administers its own awards for continuing students.

Graduate Funding at Carleton

Carleton’s entrance and Prestige systems are undergraduate systems. Graduate students are funded through departmental packages, teaching and research assistantships, and internal and external award competitions administered for graduate students. The best-documented external route open to some international graduate students is the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS): a merit-based provincial award valued at CAD 10,000 or CAD 15,000 for up to one year, paid at CAD 5,000 per term over two or three consecutive terms, requiring a GPA of 10.0 (A-) in each of your last two years of full-time study and full-time enrolment in a Carleton graduate program. Eligibility is primarily for Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons — but international students studying in Ontario on a study permit at the application deadline are eligible to apply for Carleton’s allotted international OGS awards, which makes OGS a real, if highly competitive, target for international master’s and PhD students already in the system. Note the logical consequence: OGS is generally not a pre-arrival funding route for a student applying from abroad, because the study-permit condition is assessed at the deadline. Doctoral applicants should also plan around the national Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS-D), worth CAD 40,000 per year for 36 months — the Vanier scholarship it sits alongside in older guides has been discontinued.

Eligibility Summary

For automatic entrance scholarships: admission to a fall-entry undergraduate program directly from high school or CEGEP, no prior post-secondary attendance, an admission average of 80%+ on Carleton’s conversion of your grades, Carleton’s academic and language requirements met, and a complete admission application with all required grades received by June 15. For the President’s Welcome Award: all of the above, plus international fee status and September 2027 entry. For Prestige: entering directly from high school or CEGEP for the first time, 90%+ admission average, a substantial extracurricular and leadership record, and the completed Prestige application with a signed reference letter by March 1. Renewal across the automatic and Prestige systems requires full-time study and an annual GPA of 10.0 (A-), with the welcome feature that a lost year can be regained.

What the Money Covers — Total Cost and the Study Permit

Carleton awards are credited against your fees; none of them is a living-expense stipend, and the President’s Welcome Award exists only in first year. Build your four-year model from the frozen tuition figures above (CAD 39,000 / 45,000 / 55,000 by program group, plus about CAD 2,500 a year in miscellaneous fees), residence and meal plan at about CAD 14,010 for eight months on campus or roughly CAD 16,000 off campus, plus books and supplies (about CAD 1,400) and personal expenses (about CAD 3,000) as Carleton itself estimates them. Then subtract your awards year by year, remembering that a Prestige award replaces your entrance scholarship rather than adding to it.

For the study permit, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) requires a single applicant to show living funds of CAD 22,895 for applications from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026, rising to CAD 23,448 from 1 September 2026, in addition to first-year tuition and travel — Carleton’s own international pages cite the same CAD 23,448 figure. Carleton also notes a practical prepayment route: after accepting your offer and paying the CAD 2,000 tuition deposit needed for your provincial attestation letter (PAL), you may prepay an estimated tuition amount (offer tuition, minus the deposit, minus entrance scholarships listed in your offer) to support your study permit application, with any overpayment held as credit on your account.

How to Apply, Step by Step

Step 1 — Apply for admission early, and completely. Automatic awards ride on your admission file. Submit your application and ensure Carleton receives all required grades well before the June 15 completeness deadline for fall entry — and far earlier if you want Prestige eligibility, since that application closes March 1.

Step 2 — Read your offer letter as a funding document. Your entrance scholarship tier is set at offer on your admission grades and is not reassessed on final grades. Record the tier, its renewal GPA (10.0) and, for September 2027 international entrants, your President’s Welcome Award value.

Step 3 — If you hold 90%+, file the Prestige application by March 1, 2027. Download the single form, complete it in Adobe on your computer, obtain a signed reference letter, and email both documents together with your student number to the Awards Office (awards@carleton.ca). One form covers every Prestige award — you do not choose among them.

Step 4 — Accept your offer and pay the CAD 2,000 tuition deposit so your provincial attestation letter can be issued for your study permit, and consider prepaying estimated tuition using Carleton’s formula.

Step 5 — Protect renewal. Register full-time, and guard the 10.0 (A-) annual GPA. If a difficult term costs you a renewal year, remember the award can be regained when you restore the GPA — plan your recovery semester deliberately rather than changing programs impulsively.

Step 6 — From second year, work the in-course system: faculty awards, general in-course scholarships and, if you are a graduate student by then or arrived as one, the OGS competition through your department.

Required Documents

For admission and automatic awards: the completed application for admission; transcripts and grades as Carleton requires for your school system; proof of English language proficiency; and passport details for the study permit stage. For Prestige: the downloaded application form completed in Adobe; a reference letter signed by your referee; and your Carleton student number in the submission email. For the study permit: offer letter showing your scholarships, the CAD 2,000 deposit receipt and PAL, and financial evidence covering tuition plus the IRCC living-funds amount (CAD 23,448 from 1 September 2026 for a single applicant).

Deadlines and Timeline

Selection Tips

For the automatic tiers, the lever is your admission average at the moment Carleton assesses your offer — there is no reassessment on final grades, so the transcript you apply with is your scholarship application; submit your strongest complete record, and do not let a missing grade delay the file past key dates. For Prestige, remember the committee weighs the range and depth of extracurricular involvement alongside the 90% floor: sustained leadership across your school years, described concretely, is what separates funded applicants from eligible ones. Prepare the reference early, brief your referee on your leadership record, and check the signature — the application is submitted by email, and administrative errors are entirely avoidable. Finally, model both scenarios before you commit: Prestige replaces the entrance scholarship, so a Chancellor’s winner and an automatic-tier student have genuinely different four-year numbers, and your deposit and study permit evidence should match the scenario you actually hold.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

First, reading the Riordon Scholarship as free international tuition — it is capped at the domestic tuition amount, leaving the international differential payable. Second, adding a Prestige award on top of an entrance scholarship in your spreadsheet; Prestige supersedes it. Third, assuming final grades can raise your entrance tier — Carleton does not reassess entrance offers on final high school grades. Fourth, missing the March 1 Prestige deadline or emailing an unsigned reference letter or omitting your student number. Fifth, having any prior post-secondary attendance and still applying for Prestige or entrance awards designed for direct-from-high-school entrants. Sixth, budgeting the President’s Welcome Award beyond first year — it is a first-year award only. Seventh, letting your GPA fall below 10.0 without a recovery plan; renewal is regainable, but only if you deliberately restore the standard.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much is Carleton’s automatic entrance scholarship for international students?

It follows the same published tiers as for other high school entrants: CAD 4,000 per year at a 95–100% admission average (CAD 16,000 over four years), CAD 3,000 at 90–94.9%, CAD 2,000 at 85–89.9% and CAD 1,000 at 80–84.9%, renewable at a 10.0 (A-) annual GPA. Carleton’s international pages summarise the range as CAD 1,000–3,000 per year, so confirm your exact tier in your offer letter.

Can international students apply for Carleton’s Prestige Scholarships?

Yes. Carleton confirms its scholarships, including Prestige, are available to international students. You must enter directly from high school or CEGEP with no prior post-secondary attendance, hold a 90%+ admission average, show substantial extracurricular involvement, and submit the single Prestige application with a signed reference letter by March 1, 2027 for the 2027–28 cycle.

Does the Riordon Scholarship cover full international tuition?

No. The Riordon covers full tuition capped at the Canadian domestic tuition amount. International recipients still pay the difference between domestic and international tuition.

What is the President’s Welcome Award?

An automatic first-year award of CAD 2,000–5,000 for international students entering directly from high school and paying international fees, for September 2027 entry. It is paid in addition to your entrance scholarship and is based on your grades at admission.

Will Carleton raise my entrance scholarship if my final grades improve?

No. Carleton states entrance scholarship offers are not assessed or reassessed on final high school grades — your tier is set on the grades behind your offer.

What GPA do I need to keep my Carleton scholarship?

An annual GPA of 10.0, an A- standing, in full-time studies. If you fall below it in a year, the scholarship can be regained in a later year when you achieve the required GPA again.

How much is tuition at Carleton for international students in 2026/27?

Tuition is frozen for 2026/27 through 2028/29 at CAD 39,000 per year for most programs, CAD 45,000 for business-group programs and CAD 55,000 for engineering, computer science, architecture and related programs, plus about CAD 2,500 in miscellaneous fees. Residence and a meal plan add roughly CAD 14,010 for eight months on campus.

Are there scholarships for international graduate students at Carleton?

Graduate funding comes through departmental packages and assistantships, plus competitions such as the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (CAD 10,000 or 15,000 for up to one year), for which international students already studying in Ontario on a study permit may apply for allotted international awards, and the national CGRS-D doctoral award (CAD 40,000 per year for 36 months).

Sources & Verification

This article was prepared from Carleton University’s official sources: “Prestige Scholarships” (Awards and Financial Aid, carleton.ca — award list, values, number of awards, 90% requirement, direct-entry rule, March 1, 2027 deadline and submission instructions, domestic-tuition cap on the Riordon Scholarship); “USA and International Costs” (Undergraduate Admissions — automatic entrance scholarship value range and renewal at GPA 10.0, President’s Welcome Award of CAD 2,000–5,000 for September 2027 in addition to entrance scholarships, frozen international tuition for 2026/27–2028/29, living cost estimates and the IRCC CAD 23,448 living-funds figure); “Scholarships and Bursaries” (Undergraduate Admissions — program scale and the June 15 completeness rule); Carleton’s published renewable entrance scholarship tier table (CAD 4,000/3,000/2,000/1,000 by admission average); Carleton’s information for international school counsellors (Prestige availability to international students and key 2027 dates); and the Faculty of Graduate Studies Ontario Graduate Scholarship page (values of CAD 10,000/CAD 15,000, GPA 10.0 requirement and study-permit eligibility for allotted international awards). Where Carleton’s pages summarise a range differently from its detailed tier table, the text says so and directs readers to their offer letter.

Disclaimer: Scholarship values, deadlines and eligibility rules change yearly. Always confirm deadlines and amounts on the official Carleton University website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency, and cannot promise admission, scholarship selection or visa approval.