Adult Upgrading Grant
The Adult Upgrading Grant (AUG) is available for eligible BC residents who would like to upgrade their education, but are challenged by the expenses that come with returning to school. This need-based grant helps students pay for costs directly related to their basic education courses, such as tuition and textbooks, and is available for both on-campus and Open Learning courses.
Eligible courses include:
- basic literacy
- academic upgrading
- pre-vocational training
- English for Academic Purposes
- Adult Basic Education
- many other course numbers that begin with a zero
Students who qualify will receive funding once for each course. Those who successfully finish those courses are welcome to reapply for more funding for additional upgrading courses.
Funding is distributed on a first-come, first-served basis, so apply early!
Students must reapply each semester for funding.
Applications are accepted for the:
- Summer semester beginning April 1
- Fall semester beginning May 1
- Winter semester beginning November 1
Adult Upgrading Grant Application
Email your completed application to Student Awards & Financial Aid.
Requirements
The application must be completed with all questions answered. You must include your Social Insurance Number and all copies of proof of income.
If you are under the age of 22, single, and living with parent(s), you will be required to provide parental income on the application.
AUG funded students who get into a waitlisted course or add a course(s) need to inform Student Awards & Financial Aid immediately.
Students who withdraw from a course (where a full refund is not credited to AUG), or who receive a DNC/Fail grade, cannot be funded for that course again. Inform Student Awards & Financial Aid if this occurs.
You will be notified by email from Student Awards & Financial Aid regarding the status of your application.
The fee amount will be credited to your student account and a cheque for required textbooks for the approved course(s) will be issued by mail once the funding has been approved. Based on the course(s), Student Awards & Financial Aid will determine the probable costs.
AUG Emergency Access Grant
In addition to the regular AUG funding for fees and books, a non-repayable AUG Emergency Access Grant of up to $500 is available to assist you with the purchase of needed hardware, and/or software, and/or a new or improved home internet access. Students taking courses from any campus including Open Learning are eligible to apply, as long as you have first been approved for AUG.
To apply for this special one-time funding, email aug@tru.ca with answers to the following questions:
- Are you currently funded by an Adult Upgrading Grant (AUG) OR have you applied for AUG for the fall or winter terms? Yes/No
- What technology barrier do you currently face? (for example, you cannot take an ABE course or have experienced difficulty succeeding in an ABE course due to the lack of…).
- What is your proposed solution and the cost? (for example, provide a link to where you would purchase the item or service, such as BestBuy or London Drugs or Amazon or Telus or Shaw).
- If you need to buy computer hardware in excess of $500, how will you fund the cost in excess of the grant?
Student Awards & Financial Aid will advise you within three weeks of submitting your request whether you have been approved. If you are approved for funding, you will be issued a cheque, which must be used to purchase the specific equipment or services for which you were approved. You must retain all your receipts, as we may ask for them. If you are unable to provide receipts when requested, or it is otherwise determined that you did not obtain the approved equipment or services, or if you obtained the equipment or services but did not use them in the completion of upgrading courses at TRU, you will be required to fully repay the grant.
