Promissory Note Checklist

Submitting the Promissory Note for provincial student loan & grant funding allows you to leave a balance owing on your account equal to the amount of your approved student loan & grant funding, until the funds are available to you after the start of term.

Government-funded student loans from outside of Canada & the United States, cannot be used on the Promissory Note.

An estimate of loan funding is not acceptable.

If you do not have an assessment or your student loan funding, you have two options:

• Pay your fees in full by the due date to avoid Late fees.
• Submit your Promissory Note once proof of the funding is available to you; if this is after the term due date, Late Fees will apply.

OSAP

Your OSAP assessment for the term will appear as Anticipated Aid on your student account in Quest as soon as it is available. You do not need to upload proof of your OSAP funding.

During the OSAP application process, you had the opportunity to select if OSAP would be sent directly to the university to pay your fees. If you selected "yes", Student Awards & Financial Aid will send confirmation of your enrolment to OSAP to request the amount of OSAP required to pay your term fees.

If instead you selected to have the OSAP sent directly to your bank account, your OSAP funding will be sent directly to your personal bank account after the start of term and you will then need to make a payment using one of our payment options to pay the balance indicated on your student account. Although there is no specific due date for payments from provincial student loans & grants, if the funds have been deposited to your personal bank account, you are expected to make a payment immediately to pay the balance on your Quest account. If the balance on your student account remains outstanding 60 days after the due date, a hold will be automatically applied to your student account, restricting your access to transcripts, viewing grades and enrolling in future terms.

Note: Student Awards & Financial Aid will only send Confirmation of Enrolment to OSAP if you are Fees Arranged and your account information matches your OSAP application information.

Other Provincial Student Loans

If your funding is from another province (not OSAP) a scanned copy of your provincial student loan assessment from a provincial website may be submitted as proof of funding, provided the amount and the term being funded are displayed.

From University of Waterloo

Your approved scholarships, bursaries, awards or GRS funding will appear as Anticipated Aid on your student account in Quest but will not be deducted from your account balance automatically. You must submit the Promissory Note to apply it even if it is already showing as Anticipated Aid.

You do not need to upload proof of awards which are part of your Anticipated Aid amount.

If your award is not showing up as Anticipated Aid, you can upload a scanned copy of a letter or e-mail verifying the amount of funding for this term.

Undergraduate Students

Scholarship and bursary amounts indicated as “Anticipated Aid” will be applied to your student account balance during the second month of term, provided your registered status is "Fees Arranged".

Graduate Students

Scholarships and awards indicated as “Anticipated Aid” will be applied to your student account balance during the first week of term, provided your registered status is "Fees Arranged."

From Canadian or US organizations other than uWaterloo

Some external scholarships, bursaries and awards will appear as Anticipated Aid on your student account in Quest. If they do, you do not need to upload proof of that funding.

If not, you will need to upload proof indicating that the funding is:

• for the current term
• payable to University of Waterloo
• for you.

Remember that the award must be payable directly to University of Waterloo, not to you personally.  Scholarships and awards payable to you rather than to University of Waterloo, cannot be used on the Promissory Note.

You cannot claim scholarships, awards, or government loans from outside Canada or the USA.

Undergraduate Students

Cheques representing undergraduate external scholarships or bursaries which are payable to University of Waterloo should be sent to Student Awards & Financial Aid. Be sure your name and student ID number are on the cheque.

Graduate Students

Cheques representing graduate external scholarships or bursaries which are payable to University of Waterloo should be sent to the Graduate Studies & Postdoctoral Affairs Office.

If you wish to use compensation you will receive for research or teaching assistantships towards the balance payable to University of Waterloo, you must submit the Promissory Note.

• If your anticipated RA/TA income is showing as Anticipated Aid on your student account, you will not need to upload proof of that funding when you submit the Promissory Note.  If the funding is not already displayed as Anticipated Aid on your student account, you need to contact your department for a funding letter specific to the term you are becoming Fees Arranged which confirms the amount of RA/TA funding, in Step 4 of the Promissory Note process.
• Note that an Offer of Admission letter is not accepted as proof of funding.

• If you are also receiving scholarships/awards this term, and they will leave a balance on your account less than $100.00, your research assistantship or teaching assistantship cannot be redirected to pay your fees. Instead, you need to pay the remaining balance along with your Promissory Note. 
• Approximately 6% of the value of the RA/TA funding will be allocated for mandatory payroll deductions and will not be available for paying your fees.
• The balance remaining after allowing for any scholarships, awards, bursaries and OSAP will divided over the four months of the term and deducted from your monthly pays.
• You are responsible to check your student account and payroll remittance advice monthly to ensure the payment plan is working as you anticipated.

Please note that the University cannot reimburse staff or faculty who choose to cover any fees posted to a student’s account, regardless of the reason. Departments wishing to provide financial assistance to students need to authorize an award through Student Awards & Financial Aid or offer payment via an RA or TA.

The tuition benefit is available to Waterloo employees and retirees receiving a University of Waterloo pension, and their children. To qualify for the benefit for a specific term, the staff or faculty member must be a uWaterloo employee during the first three weeks of that term.

The amount of the benefit is generally 100% of the domestic rate tuition charge for Waterloo employees or retirees enrolled in courses, and 50% of the domestic rate tuition, co-op and work report marking fee charges for children of Waterloo employees or retirees; the benefit is pro-rated for employees who are employed at less than full-time. The tuition benefit does not apply to fees remaining on your student account for courses dropped after the 100% refund deadline.

The completed tuition benefit form must be submitted by the staff/faculty member at least two business days before the Promissory Note is submitted. The estimated tuition benefit amount will then appear as Anticipated Aid on the student account so it can be used to submit the Promissory Note without uploading any proof document. If your tuition benefit amount is not displayed as Anticipated Aid when you go to submit the Promissory Note, you can upload a screenshot of the tuition benefit application confirmation for the term in Step 4 of the Promissory Note process.

Your application for the tuition benefit is subject to confirmation of eligibility based on Human Resources records. Employees can only submit a tuition benefit application for the current term and up to the two prior terms only (if they were uWaterloo employees at that time but neglected to apply during that term).  Applications for terms prior to that are not available.

Tuition benefit amounts will be applied to student accounts during the second month of term, provided your registered status is "Fees Arranged".

For the child of an employee

• Be sure your parent completes the online form.
• The tuition benefit is only applied to charges for tuition, co-op fee and work report marking fee, not to incidental fees.
• If you want to deduct the amount of your tuition benefit from the amount you have to pay, you need to submit the Promissory Note along with proof of a completed payment for the fees not covered by the tuition benefit.

For an employee

Waterloo employees and retirees on a University of Waterloo pension may claim the tuition benefit for themselves for a maximum of two courses (1.0 credit) per term.

• Be sure you complete the online form.
• The Promissory Note must be completed to apply the Anticipated Aid to the tuition balance. You do not need to attach a tuition benefit form as a proof document.

You will need to upload a scanned copy of a letter from your sponsor that states—

• your name
• the start and end dates of your funding
• name, address, e-mail address and phone number of sponsor
• any fees your sponsor will not pay

You'll also need to upload proof of payment of the fees your sponsor will not pay.

The seniors bursary is available to students age 65 or older.  The bursary amount will appear as Anticipated Aid on your student account in Quest about two business days after you enroll.  Students are responsible for all other fees associated with the course. 

To deduct the amount of the bursary from the total you need to pay by the due date, you need to submit the Promissory Note. You need to include proof of payment of any incidental fees charged to your account because the bursary only covers the tuition charge.

The seniors bursary will be applied to your student account balance during the second month of term, provided you are Fees Arranged.

You will need to upload proof of payment of the remaining balance:

• a scanned copy of a receipt from making a payment at a bank in Canada
• a screen shot of your payment confirmation page from making a payment using online banking from a bank in Canada
• a scanned copy of a certified cheque, money order or bank draft from a Canadian or US bank
• a scanned copy of a receipt for a Western Union GlobalPay for Students transfer

A completed payment of any remaining balance calculated on the Promissory Note is due with your Promissory Note. If your payment is post-dated, we will not be able to process it until the payment date.  If that is past the term due date, your Promissory Note will be considered late. Your payment must be dated on or before the due date to avoid a late fee.