Purpose
The NEADS Financial Assistance Program is offered to encourage full access to post-secondary education for persons living with disabilities, who often have higher costs and greater barriers to participation in higher education.
The program will award 2 partner-funded scholarships in the Fall 2025 semester.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents.
- Applicants must be living with a permanent, persistent or prolonged disability.
- Applicants must be currently enrolled at a post-secondary institution as a full-time student.
- Applicants must be still enrolled in their studies at the time when the grant/scholarship is awarded.
Notes:
- For the purpose of these grants/scholarships, a permanent, persistent or prolonged disability is a functional limitation which limits an individual’s ability to participate fully in post-secondary education.
- Current high school students must be accepted in order to apply.
- Full-time is defined as 40% of a course-load, as per the Canada Student Financial Assistance Program definition.
Fall 2025 – Types of available NEADS grants:
Since January 2024, the NEADS Financial Assistance Program has provided $2,000 grants to support students with expenses related to tuition, assistive technology, ergonomic equipment, food security, rent, medical supplies, learning supports, computers and tablets, and mental health and wellness services. These grants were made possible through funding from Employment and Social Development Canada’s Supports for Student Learning Program under NEADS’s Virtual Access For All project.
Unfortunately, this funding ended on March 31, 2025, and was not renewed. As a result, NEADS will not be offering grants for the Fall 2025 semester.
We are actively seeking alternative sources of funding with the hope of reinstating this part of the program as soon as possible.
Types of available partner-funded scholarships:
The following awards are offered as part of the NEADS Financial Assistance Program. Specific scholarships will be available in certain semesters of each academic year.
- Canada Post Award (1 at $10,000).
- AMI Robert Pearson Memorial Scholarship (2 at $5,000, one for an anglophone and one for francophone studying in Canada).
- Connor Clark & Lunn Financial Group Scholarship for Student in Business, Economics, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (1 at $5,000).
- Holly Bartlett Memorial Award (1 at $1,000)
- Christine Nieder Memorial Award (1 at $1,000)
The following scholarships are the only ones available for Fall 2025:
- AMI Robert Pearson Memorial Scholarship (2 at $5,000)
Selection Criteria:
The application process will require students to demonstrate:
- The extent of their financial need.
- Strong commitment to academia through study, research, and innovation (Canada Post Scholarship)
- Community involvement (Canada Post scholarship).
- Leadership and advocacy for self and others (Canada Post Scholarship)
- Knowledge about media accessibility (Accessible Media Inc. Scholarship).
Selection Process
Once your application has been submitted, it will be reviewed for completeness and adherence to the above guidelines. Assuming all guidelines are met, selection committees review applications based on the selection criteria described above.
Due to the volume of applications received, only those selected to receive an award will be contacted.
Review our Frequently Asked Questions or for any other inquiries pertaining to the application process please contact the financial assistance programs team at: etes@neads.ca.
Applications Open: Tuesday September 2, 2025
Deadline to Apply: Friday, October 10, 2025 at 5pm PT, Pacific time.