Students
Every year, as a new, continuing or graduating NIC student, you are eligible to apply for hundreds of scholarships and bursaries to help pay for college. These generous financial awards are made possible through the NIC Foundation by friends of North Island College who believe in the importance of education, and who want to ensure that finances don't stand between you and your career goals.
How to Apply
Only one application is required to be considered for all NIC Foundation awards which range in value and type of award. Scholarships are awarded for outstanding academic achievement while bursaries are based on financial assessment.
Our 2025 application form will be available on March 1, 2025. Successful recipients will be notified via your NIC email address. Please read our FAQ and watch our Application Tutorial Video and if you still have a question email financialaid@nic.bc.ca or call 250-334-5000 ext. 4244.
If you are a student on March 1, 2025 or plan to attend NIC at any point during the academic year ending August 31, 2026, you are eligible to apply.
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The online application form has several sections with specific questions related to your personal, NIC and financial details. All applicants will be asked to provide a Social Insurance Number which is required to generate a T4A upon receiving an award.
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Bursary applicants will need to provide Line 150,000 from their most recent Tax Notice of Assessment. Dependent students will need to provide their parent/guardian’s most recent Line 150,000 from their Tax Notice of Assessment.
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Graduating high school students can provide interim transcripts directly to NIC Admissions.
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Give yourself enough time to complete the online application. You will have the option to save and edit your application and to skip sections of the form that are not applicable.
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Read questions carefully, provide thorough responses and proof your work.
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We are here to help and answer questions related to the application process. Email financialaid@nic.bc.ca or call 250-334-5000 Ext. 4244.
- The NIC Foundation Awards Application is available online between March and April each year. With one application, you will be considered for all awards for which you are eligible.
- To submit your best possible application, please be as detailed as possible in your responses. Detailed information helps the selection committee match you to relevant awards.
- Upload all required documents using the online application and submit before the deadline.
- If you are chosen to receive an award, you will be notified in the summer via your NIC email address. If you are not chosen, no email will be sent.
- In nearly all cases, funds will automatically be deposited into your NIC student account to reduce or cover your fall tuition. This will be communicated by email to your NIC address.
Award recipients must accept award terms through our online acceptance form. A link will be provided to you via your NIC email address. You will be prompted to provide an Introduction note and Impact Statement which the NIC Foundation will pass along to your donor.
FAQs
All students are encouraged to apply:
- Entering, continuing, and graduating students.
- All program areas, including short term vocational and apprenticeship programs.
- Sponsored students with tuition already covered.
- Dual credit high school students – even with tuition covered by the district.
- You don’t need to have a student loan to apply for NIC Foundation Awards program.
It only takes 45 minutes average to complete your application. By providing all required information and by informing as much details as possible about you, more chances to be matched to an award.
Finance related questions require reference to Line 150,000 of your Tax Notice of Assessment, and your program tuition fee for 2025/26, but you are not required to upload these documents. An optional reference letter can be uploaded to support your application.
Students are encouraged to apply every year, regardless of if they were supported on previous years or not.
Successful applicants will be notified through their myNIC email address. Award offers are time sensitive and could be sent anywhere between early summer and Dec 2025. Make sure to check your myNIC email regularly.
No, we will only email successful award applicants.
We have over 500 financial awards available across the region, representing over $700k. Funding is provided by individuals, families and organizations in our communities who value education and want to encourage the success of others.
Awards are applied as a credit on your myNIC account. Credit is normally applied to the fall 2025 term, or to your first term at NIC. If there are no fees owing in the 2025-26 year, or if your award is more than your fees, you will receive a payment for the balance.
Awards are applied as a credit on your myNIC account, and NIC advisors or frontline staff will be able to also see it in the system.
Balance payout processing time may vary, so if you are concerned about not being able to pay upfront for your books and wait for the award balance payment, we encourage you to speak to a financial aid advisor.
Every year, the number of deserving applicants is far greater than the funding available. Since NIC Foundation awards are donor funded with conditions for eligibility, a successful applicant may meet donor preferences more closely than others. Additionally, many awards factor in demonstrated financial need or a minimum GPA requirement, which varies greatly among applicants. The result is a closing applicant pool of “deserving yet unsupported students”. The Foundation team reviews and reports this data each year to bridge the gap through ongoing fundraising efforts.
Tell us how receiving an NIC Foundation scholarship or bursary made a difference for you. Email
financialaid@nic.bc.ca.