Frequently Asked Questions

If the institution you are sending your transcript to accepts the document if it's submitted by the student, then you can request an official transcript to be mailed to your home address, then scan and submit the document. Please allow sufficient time for processing and mailing. 

If you have access to your BearTracks account, you can also download an unofficial copy of your transcript and email it to the institution, if the institution will accept it. 

If these options do not work for the institution you are applying to please contact Student Connect and we will explore alternate options.

The Winter 2021 Term Mandatory Non-Instructional Fees (MNIF) were assessed at zero percent until the mode of delivery for the winter semester was determined. The Board of Governors approved the Winter term fees in November 2020 and the new charges you see are for these fees.

Non-instructional services remain accessible to students. Many are now offered remotely, providing students with the ability to access them regardless of location. While health and safety precautions are now in place for services that are open on campus (i.e. Athletics & Recreation), students can choose to use them or not as they typically would. Services supported by the mandatory non-instructional fees are operational, available, and ready to help when students need them, and that remains true during the pandemic. Fees for services that are unavailable have been eliminated.

Payment options

There are several payment options available; these options can vary depending on what type of student you are and what type of fee or deposit you are paying. For a detailed breakdown, please see the Deadlines and Payment Instructions page on the Admissions & Programs website. 

Once processed, payments applied to your account can be viewed in BearTracks under "Financials", by clicking on "Account Details" and selecting the correct term. Please note that payments can take several business days to process.

Payment deadlines

Payment deadlines for tuition fees, as well as other types of fees and deposits, are outlined in the Academic Schedule in the University Calendar (scroll down to see the Fall and Winter terms). Key dates and deadlines for each term are also published on the Registrar’s Office website.

Installment Charge. What is this? 

If you wait until the Winter term payment deadline to pay your Winter tuition fees, you will be assessed a $40 Installment Charge. You can avoid paying this charge by paying for both your Fall and Winter tuition fees by the Fall term payment deadline. Similarly, if you are taking courses in the Spring and Summer semester, you can avoid the $40 Installment Charge by paying for both your Spring and Summer tuition fees by the Spring term payment deadline. You will not be charged an installment fee for your Winter mandatory non-instructional fees as long as you paid all your other tuition & fees in the fall.

Questions?

If you have additional questions or experience difficulties in making your payments, please view our Frequently Asked Questions or contact Financial Services for assistance.

There are some fees (SU dedicated fees and Health & Dental plan) that you may be able to opt out of. 

For information on how to change coverage, including opting out of the plan by the Fall Term deadline, or how to enroll if you are a new Winter Term student, please visit studentcare.ca.

Additional information about non-instructional fees and opt-out processes can be found here.

Campus & Community Recreation continues to encourage everyone to focus on staying physically active and mentally well while adjusting to our new remote routines and physical distancing. Check out their online resources and workouts you can use while you're at home here.

The Athletics and Recreation fee is a mandatory access fee charged to all students to allow access to Athletics and Recreation services whether you use it or not. The non-instructional fees support the administration of services on campus and are not assessed as a user fee. 

The University of Alberta will continue to follow public health guidelines to ensure the safety of students and staff when assessing service availability.

No, mandatory non-instructional fees cannot be appealed. These fees are approved by the Board of Governors. There are some fees (SU dedicated fees and Health & Dental plan) that you may be able to opt out of. 

Information about non-instructional fees can be found here.

The deadline for payment is Friday January 29, 2021. Payment options are available at: https://www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/tuition/tuition-payment-options/index.html

If you paid your tuition in full for Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 you will not be charged an $40 installment charge.

For students with an Alberta Student Loan, estimates of tuition and fees provided to the Ministry of Advanced Education included these fees. Your tuition remitted for Winter 2021 will include the appropriate amounts, which means that the fee suggestions that were on your student loan application included these fees. If you selected those options, you do not need to apply for additional funding, your tuition remitted for Winter 2021 will include the appropriate amounts. 

For students with out-of-province loans, please check your initial application and you may need to apply for additional funding. 

You may be eligible for additional non-repayable funding, please review options here. 

You can apply for graduation by the following deadlines on Bear Tracks, under the Academics tab.

See below for application opening dates and deadlines.

Spring Convocation 2021

Open to apply: October 1, 2020 (Undergraduate), November 1, 2020 (Graduate)

Deadline to apply: February 1, 2021 (Undergraduate), April 1 (Graduate)

Fall Convocation 2021

Open to apply: March 15, 2021 (Undergraduate), May 1, 2021 (Graduate)

Deadline to apply: September 1, 2021 (Undergraduate), September 30 (Graduate)

Apply for Graduation through Bear Tracks by clicking on "Graduation" under the "Academics tab", after which you will be able to select your program and completion term. You will be able to see the status of your graduation application under the "Graduation status" tab on this same page.

Information on Spring Convocation has not been finalized at this time. Please check for more information and updates here.

Yes, the add/drop and withdrawal deadlines have been shifted for the Winter 2021 Term. Please check the registration dates/deadlines page for the dates.

No, you will still be confirmed and you do not have to submit any changes to previously submitted loan applications or forms.

The new semester dates will be updated in BearTracks before the end of the year. Please contact your instructor about any changes to your exam dates for Winter 2021.

Documentation/Final Marks

The University of Alberta will accept final grades from the school year as presented on the Alberta Education transcript, regardless of whether or not students have written their diploma exams. We will also accept the final grades presented on all transcripts issued by recognized jurisdictions, understanding that adjustments have and are being made in many regions in response to the pandemic.

English Language Proficiency (ELP)

International applicants who are required to demonstrate English Language Proficiency and had intended to fulfill that requirement using English Language Arts 30-1 will only be able to do so if they write the diploma exam. If students don’t write the diploma exam, they will be required to demonstrate ELP with acceptable scores in an English language proficiency test. Additional details related to language requirements are available here.

Even though you have not received an offer of admission at this time, your application is not closed, it is still active and open for future re-evaluation.

You will be invited to update your grades as you receive new final grades, either quarterly or at the end of the term, depending on what format your school follows. Once we receive this information, your application will be automatically re-evaluated. You do not need to submit a new application, you will receive the grade update form on your Launchpad portal when we will begin accepting updated courses and grades. Please see here for additional information on the Course Updates.

For more information on the timeline, please take a look at our Dates and Deadlines page.

If you are not admissible after you submit your updated courses and marks, we will re-evaluate your application once again at the end of Grade 12, when we receive your final and official transcripts.

Please note that your application status in ApplyAlberta will continue to say "not complete" as your application status is not updated there. Make sure to refer to your UAlberta Launchpad for application status updates and for information about documents that may be required!

If you have not received your Temporary PIN to log in to Launchpad, please reply to this email to let us know and we can resend it to the email address you have used to create your application.

You should receive your CCID within 3-5 business days after your application is submitted.

Please contact us for assistance. Please do not submit multiple applications to fix your error.

If you have not received your temporary PIN or want to get your PIN reset, please send us an email request from your personal email on file or UAlberta email address. We will resend the PIN to you. 

You can accept your admission offer in your UAlberta Launchpad portal. Once you log in to your status page, click on “Reply to Offer of Admission”, then then select "I ACCEPT my offer of admission to the University of Alberta" and click submit. 

If you are a new applicant to the university, you may also need to pay a non-refundable tuition deposit as part of the offer acceptance process. In order to make a payment through Launchpad, go back to your status page and click on "Submit Payment". For more payment options, please take a look at the Tuition Deposit Payment page.

Deadline

You must accept your offer and pay the tuition deposit by the deadline, which will be indicated in Launchpad, under "Reply to Offer of Admission". Otherwise, your offer may be revoked.

Please note that even after you have accepted your offer, you will still be required to meet any conditions stated in your offer letter. Otherwise, your offer may be revoked. For more information, see your offer letter, which you can view in  your Launchpad status page by clicking on "View Update".

When your admission offer is available, you will be notified to go to UAlberta Launchpad to accept your offer. For most students new to the University of Alberta, a non-refundable tuition deposit is required in order to accept your offer of admission and confirm a spot in your program. You can check the deadline to accept the offer here.

If you wish to pay for your tuition deposit via your Launchpad portal, please note that you can do so using RBC Interac debit or certain Credit Union cards.

If you don't have an eligible debit card, then you can make the payment through your online banking following these steps:

• Access your bank website and sign in.
• Add ‘University of Alberta' as a payee on your bill payment profile
• Use your SEVEN DIGIT STUDENT ID NUMBER, then the FIRST FOUR LETTERS OF YOUR LAST NAME as your account number. If your last name has less than four letters, please use your first name to complete the four letter, for example: John Xu = 1234567XUJO
• Enter the amount to be paid and the date on which you would like to pay.
• Complete the transaction as if you were paying a utility bill.

If you need to reset your CCID password, please visit the Information Services and Technology website. You must first enrol in the Self Service Password Reset function to add alternate email/phone number, after which you will be able to reset your password using the Reset Your Password option.

Most undergraduate programs open for application on October 1, 2020 and will close on March 1, 2020.  

The following Augustana programs are not accepting applications: BA Majors in Biology, Chemistry, Computing Science, Mathematics and Physics, Sociology. BSc Majors in Mathematics and Physics, Psychology

After you have submitted your application, you will have access to the UAlberta Launchpad portal to check your application status and review any checklist items for your program. If your application states that it’s pending review, then that means an advisor is currently reviewing your application. Launchpad is the first place that any updates will be posted. You will be notified by email when there are updates posted. If we require any further information or documents, we will contact you directly. 

Please note that we are unable to give you an application evaluation update or a specific timeline by email, live chat, and phones. Admissions offers are released on a rolling basis, as evaluations are completed.

The deadline to apply for Winter term has passed. However, you can still apply for Spring or Summer term. Open Studies is a part-time student classification that allows students to take courses for credit without pursuing a degree program. The only requirement for admission to Open Studies is English Language Proficiency. This requirement is outlined in the University Calendar. The deadline to submit documents is the same as the application deadline for the term. A non-refundable and non-transferable application fee of $125 is required for new applicants.

Applications for admission to Open Studies are accepted each term. Deadlines are published in the U of A Calendar.

• Winter Term: December 15
• Spring Term: April 30
• Summer Term: June 30

Because our application system is a US product, if you have selected Canadian Citizen under your citizenship status, it will show up as Foreign National once you submit your application, as this is a system default.

We can see on our end that you are a Canadian Citizen, so this won't affect your application or evaluation in any way and you don't need to correct or update anything.

All awards administered through the Office of the Registrar are listed on our website. You can visit Scholarships and Awards to find out which awards are available and determine your eligibility, as well as important deadlines.

Please note that there are different types of competitions:  by application, automatic, and nomination through the faculty.  Be sure to check the deadlines to make sure that you do not miss out on any opportunities.

For more information regarding bursaries and other financial supports, please visit:

• Financial Support
• Government of Alberta Scholarships and Bursaries
• Students' Union Awards & Scholarships

Student Connect can assist you with your loan application and advise you on how to manage your loans and pay for your education. Check out our website here for details.

Student loans are administered by the provincial and federal governments. When you apply for your provincial loans, you will be simultaneously assessed for federal funding.

Student loans are interest-free and payment-free during the period of study, followed by a six-month grace period. 

Part-time student loans require using the paper application form from Student Aid Alberta. Once your loan application is complete, you will need to get Page 3 of the form signed by Student Connect, or the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research if you are a graduate student. Once the application is complete you will need to send it to Student Aid Alberta.

Some provinces / territories may allow you to apply for grant funding without taking out a student loan. If you would like to apply for grant funding only, please watch our instructional video here or talk to your provincial loan borrower for more information.

If you are applying for a student loan through Alberta Student Aid you will answer this question "No" even if some or all of your classes will be delivered online this fall. 

Student loan borrowers from other provinces should check with their province about how to report this on the student loan application.

You will only answer this question if your estimate that your income for 2020 will be less than it was for 2019.  This question is a way to recognise that you may not have the same income while you're in school as you did last year. If you expect your income to be the same or higher just leave this question blank. 

Do not include the CESB/CERB in your estimation of the Expected Reduced Income for yourself, parents or spouse.

If you have any outstanding tuition fees, your award payments will be applied directly to your tuition balance first.  If you are registered full time in both terms, the value of your awards will be split in half, with 50 per cent of the award applied to your tuition account for the Fall Term and the other 50 per cent applied to your tuition account for the Winter Term.

Students will start seeing your awards as "Anticipated Aid" in Bear Tracks by the end of August.

If you have applied for Alberta Student Loans, please ensure that you check your application on your Student Aid Alberta portal to identify any possible discrepancies along with your registration. If you cannot identify any discrepancies, please use our contact form and one of our advisors can assist you.

After the registration deadline, you cannot drop or swap courses; you can only withdraw. (Note that there is also a withdrawal deadline). Withdrawals can be processed in Bear Tracks. Some withdrawals will be processed immediately, while others may require faculty review. Continue to attend classes until you have confirmation in Bear Tracks that your withdrawal has been processed.

For two-term A/B classes, between the end of the first term and the registration deadline for the second term you must go to your faculty office and complete a paper withdrawal form. Dropping the B-portion of a class will not automatically withdraw you from the A-portion during this time period, and you cannot withdraw from the A-portion on Bear Tracks once that term has ended.

For more information, please see the Withdrawals webpage or consult with your faculty.

The office of Accessibility Resources (AR) provides an array of services and supports related to mobility, vision, hearing, learning, and physical and mental health.

The University of Alberta is committed to accessibility for all students and staff.  Most of our buildings, classrooms, and grounds are physically accessible, with ground-level entrances, door paddles, elevators, and accessible washrooms.  For more information please visit the Accessibility Resources office website.

If you are an Open Studies student, Student Connect can assist you. 

For graduate academic program questions, please contact your department.

For undergraduate academic program questions, please contact your Faculty Student Services office. The things they can help with include:

• Program / Degree planning and checklists
• Course selection / registration
• Declaring / Changing major
• Academic Standing
• Academic Appeals
• Exams - Deferred and Re-exam
• Transfer Credit
• Document requests (Letter of Permission, Letter of Completion, Certificate application)
• Graduation Requirements
• Letter of Expected Graduation Date
• Internships/Co-ops
• Prospective Student Advising
• Career Advising