Financial Aid

The fundamental principle of the University of Toronto (U of T) Policy on Student Financial Support (PDF) states that no student offered admission to its programs will be unable to enter or to complete the program due to a lack of financial means.

For most students, it will be necessary to incur some debt, through access to government student assistance programs and a professional student line of credit with a financial institution. A number of grants and bursaries are also available to support students with demonstrable financial need.

In addition to the information below, you can also view our financial aid webinar, as an additional resource.

For international students, please review the financial information for international applicants.

The MD Program wants to ensure that all medical students are aware of the resources available to finance their medical education. We've recently launched the first in our series of financial literacy modules: MD Program Financial Resource Explorer - Year 1.

“I received the MD Admission Bursary when I was accepted to the University of Toronto. Over the past four years, the bursaries have helped cover tuition, and other school related expenses. Going to medical school was always my dream, and receiving these awards turned this dream into reality.

I am so lucky to be a recipient of an MD Admission Bursary, thanks to the gracious donations from the sponsors. Being already in debt from my undergraduate studies, and hefty tuition of medical school, my finances are always on my mind. The scholarships helped reduce this stress and focus more on school and pursuing extracurricular activities."

Caleigh Campbell, 1T6 student

Accessing federal and provincial loans, and grant assistance

For most students, the first source of funding to consider is federal and provincial student assistance programs. Most provinces use an integrated application process that allows you to access both federal and provincial programs using one application. You may qualify for loan and/or grant funding issued by your home province. In most situations, it is necessary for you to apply for and receive government loan funding in order to be considered for grant assistance provided by the Temerty Faculty of Medicine. You should submit your applications for government loan assistance as early as possible after acceptance in order to ensure that funding is available in early September. You should be mindful of the fact that the provincial loan programs will consider you ‘independent’ once you have been out of high school for four years. This independent status will apply to most students entering the MD Program at the U of T and means that parental income and asset information will not be requested when applying for provincial government student loan assistance.

Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP)

Details regarding the OSAP program and the web-based application are available online.

Non-Ontario residents

If you are from another Canadian province, you must apply for loan assistance from your home province. Access to the various provincial government application forms can be found at the U of T Financial Aid website.

Information specific to Quebec residents

Residents of the Province of Quebec who undertake medical studies in Ontario are not eligible for student loans issued by the Quebec government.

To qualify for grant assistance from the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Quebec residents enrolled in the MD Program must complete a University of Toronto Advance Planning for Students UTAPS application. A link to the online application will be sent to non-Ontario loan recipients in late summer/early fall.

Quebec residents are also eligible to submit applications for assistance under the Temerty Faculty of Medicine Grant and the MD Admission Bursary programs. Please e-mail us for further information and to discuss your personal circumstances.

Temerty Faculty of Medicine grants and bursaries

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine offers non-repayable grant funding through the Temerty Faculty of Medicine Student Grants Program and the Temerty Faculty of Medicine MD Admission Bursaries.

You will also receive a stipend of $750 per month through the Final Year Medical Student Bursary Fund program for total payment of $9000 during your final twelve months of study in the MD Program. This bursary program is funded by the Government of Ontario and operated by the Ontario Medical Association.

Temerty Faculty of Medicine Student Grants

If you qualify for government loan assistance, you may be eligible for non-repayable grant assistance. The Temerty Faculty of Medicine's financial aid program is needs-based and designed to ensure that the students with the most demonstrated financial need receive the highest level of financial support. You are expected to access all income sources available to you to fund your medical education, e.g. personal assets and summer savings, parental and spousal contributions, government student loans, grants and external scholarships. If there is a shortfall between your resources and the cost of attending medical school, you should consider applying for Temerty Faculty of Medicine Grant Funding.

Students in financial need are required to submit a Temerty Faculty of Medicine Grant Application which will be available in the summer. The deadline for submitting the application is September 30. Individual grant amounts will vary from student to student based on personal financial situation and assessed unmet financial need.

If you are receiving a Temerty Faculty of Medicine Student Grant, you may be requested to complete and submit a grant information form and proof of disability insurance coverage.

Students who receive financial aid are strongly encouraged to purchase disability insurance coverage and provide proof of coverage. All students in the MD Program are encouraged to obtain disability insurance in order to have insurance coverage in the event of illness or injury. Disability insurance can be obtained from various providers. Information is available during Orientation Week. Your insurance must include insurance coverage equivalent or higher than $1,500 per month coverage, a Guaranteed Insurability Benefit (GIB) and Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA).

In general, we make payment of grants before the end of January. All grants are first credited toward outstanding fees. If all of your fees have been paid, we will issue a refund.

MD Admission Bursaries

This bursary program has been developed to ensure that students identified as having the highest level of financial need have access to resources necessary to complete their studies in the MD Program. It is our hope that students who might not otherwise apply for entry to the MD Program are able to do so as a result of the availability of this bursary program.

A minimum of 20 bursaries will be available to students entering the MD Program in September. Each bursary is for the amount of $20,000 during the first year of study in the MD Program and upon submitting an annual application for review to us, additional bursary assistance of $10,000 in each of the second, third and fourth year of study may be given. Grants will be paid during the fall term prior to the deadline of payment for fees. You must meet all admission conditions and registration requirements before any payment will be released.

Submission of an application for the U of T MD Admission Bursaries has no influence whatsoever on your application for entry to the MD Program. The review and assessment of bursary applications is a separate and distinct process. Admission Bursary recipients will receive notification along with their offer of admission to the MD Program.

If you are invited to attend an Admission interview, we will also send you bursary application materials. Our staff will be available on interview days to answer your enquiries.

Travel stipend

As part of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s ongoing commitment to improving learner experience, and in recognition of student concerns over time and cost involved in travel to more remote community sites, we offer a travel stipend. The stipend is based on financial need.

The subsidy is applicable for:

second-year Family Medicine Longitudinal Experience (FMLE) placements which would typically require more than one hour of travel on public transit or more than two transit systems to get there*
third-year core clerkship rotations **
fourth-year selectives

* For FMLE placements, the calculation of travel time is done from the Medical Science Building for St. George based students and Terrence Donnelly Health Sciences Complex for UTM based students. The application outlines eligibility in more detail and how the application process works. Your academy will inform you of sites eligible for the stipend and student financial need will be confirmed by the Office of Student Financial Services. The Travel Stipend is a subsidy only and is not intended to cover the full cost of travel.

** For clerks, eligible placements have been determined based on a calculation of travel time required from your base hospital to the community site using standard references, Google Maps/Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) Trip Planner.

To apply, please use the online Travel Stipend Application Form.

Professional Student Line of Credit

You may find it necessary to incur some debt using a private bank line of credit. All major banks offer a Professional Student Line of Credit (LOC). Below is a listing of banks and financial institutions that offer LOC to students enrolled in an MD Program.

BMO Bank of Montreal
416-979-2110
1-800-665-9665

CIBC Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
416-980-2260
1-866-525-8622

RBC Royal Bank of Canada
416-974-6956
1-800-769-2511

Scotiabank
416-866-6618
1-800-972-6842

Scholars at Risk Program

The University of Toronto is committed to supporting refugees who have had their education disrupted by conflict or war, including scholars from Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Syria. The Scholars at Risk bursary program supports undergraduate and graduate students who are, or have been within the last five years, asylum-seekers or refugees anywhere in the world (regardless of status in Canada) or whose current or proposed program of study has been impacted by changing political environments in their country of current or future study, including changes in immigration law, with bursaries of $10,000. You can learn more here.