OSAS Student Experience Grants

Applications for Term 1 Student Experience Grants are Open!

If you have any questions, please reach out to:

Madeleine Kennedy at madeleine.kennedy@sauder.ubc.ca

What is the Student Experience Grant?

OSAS provides funding to students to help you participate in experiential learning opportunities and create new student-led initiatives.

What can I use the Grant for?

Grants are available to partially offset expenses for a variety of experiential learning opportunities, including but not limited to:

Participating in a volunteer or service learning program
Competing in a case competition
Attending a conference
Organizing a new event, program or service that benefits other students

Who is eligible to apply?

Students currently registered in the DAP Program, BCom program or BUCS program (Combined Major in Business and Computer Science) at the time of application.

Application Process

The application deadline for Term 1 is October 5, 2025, and applicants will be notified of funding on October 17, 2025.

For Term 2, the application deadline is February 1, 2026, with funding notifications sent on February 13, 2026.

If granted funding, individual applicants and clubs/services are not permitted to apply for funding again for a minimum of 2 academic years. For example, if funding is granted in the 2025-2026 academic year, the same student will not be considered for funding until 2027-2028.

Successful applicants will be required to submit a photo of the experience/event and a letter of impact outlining the skills they developed through the funded experience, along with an overview of the experience/event.

If you’ve already completed your experience, you can still apply for the Student Experience Grant and may be eligible to receive 1/3 of your eligible costs reimbursed. Make sure to review the Eligible Experiences and Funding Guidelines below, then submit your application here along with your receipts and a letter of reflection.

If you haven’t gone on your experience yet, you can also apply in advance by reviewing the same guidelines and submitting your application through this link before the appropriate deadline.

Eligible Experiences and Funding Guidelines

All applications are assessed on an individual basis. However, to give you a better idea of the types of experiences we have funded in the past and the funding guidelines we use when reviewing applications, please see the list below.

Participate in a volunteer or service learning program

Funding will be considered for applicants who demonstrate a financial barrier to participation due to the expenses of the program or the loss of income.

ELIGIBLE EXPERIENCE	FUNDING GUIDELINES
> Participate in a volunteer or service learning programE.g. Local, national, or international full-time volunteer program for a non-profit organization	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees while volunteering, to a maximum of $2000.

Compete in a case competition

Funding will be considered for participation in competitions—not already supported by UBC Sauder.

ELIGIBLE EXPERIENCE		FUNDING GUIDELINES
> Complete in a case competitionE.g., Unilever Games, Undergraduate Real Estate Case Competition, Yale Debating Championships, etc.	Local – Lower Mainland	1/3 of the cost of registration, to a maximum of $190.
	West Coast – North America	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees, to a maximum of $440.
	East Coast – North America	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees, to a maximum of $625.
	International	1/3 of cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees, to a maximum of $1500.

Attend a conference

Funding will be considered for conference attendance.

ELIGIBLE EXPERIENCE		FUNDING GUIDELINES
> Attend a conferenceE.g., Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Tech, Queen’s Marketing Association Conference, Harvard Social Enterprise Conference, The Art of Leadership for Women, Harvard Africa Business Conference	Local – Lower Mainland	1/3 of the cost of registration, to a maximum of $190.
	West Coast – North America	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees, to a maximum of $440.
	East Coast – North America	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees, to a maximum of $625.
	International	1/3 of the cost of major transportation, accommodation and registration fees to a maximum of $1500.

Organize a new event, program or service that benefits other students

Funding will be considered for new initiatives that support other students’ academic success, professional success, health and wellbeing, or community building. This funding is not to be relied upon as a consistent source of revenue as funding will not be granted to the same organization/initiative again for a minimum of three academic years.

ELIGIBLE EXPERIENCE	FUNDING GUIDELINES
> Organize a new event, program or service that benefits other students	Assessed on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the total budget and other revenue sources.

What experiences or expenses are not covered?

The Student Experience Grant does not cover:

– Expenses for food, souvenirs, hotel incidentals, local transportation (taxi, bus, Uber), personal expenses, or events related to charities and faith.

Note:

Major transportation refers to the transportation it takes to get to the destination (flights, train etc) and is determined based on the cost of a reasonable economy itinerary. We do not cover expenses for local transportation such uber, taxis, buses or subways.
Accommodation refers to the cost of reasonable economy hotel rooms or air bnbs, for the duration of the event plus 1 night.

Available Sources of Funding

You may be eligible for additional funding at UBC. Consider applying for the options that best suit your individual or group needs:

AMS Fund – Provides funding for events, initiatives, and projects that benefit a significant number of students and build campus community.
Walter Gage Memorial Fund – Supports projects and activities of broad student interest that enhance UBC’s reputation.
UBC Community Engagement Funding – Supports student-led initiatives that connect with the wider UBC and Vancouver community.
UBC Sauder EDI Action Fund – Funds events and initiatives that transform EDI ideas into action.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

Are entrepreneurial pursuits eligible for funding?

This fund is not intended to finance start up businesses. For this type of funding, please look into opportunities at entrepreneurship@UBC.

Am I eligible for academic concessions?

If you find that an event is creating a conflict between coursework or an exam, you may be eligible for academic concession if the circumstances meet the criteria outlined in the academic concession policy for conflicting responsibilities. We encourage you to review the information here before submitting your petition: academic concessions page.
Please know that these concessions will be evaluated in the same manner as all other petitions for academic concession, and are not automatically approved because they are related to the Student Experience Grants program.

I’m attending a Case Competition/Conference that is outside of the lower mainland. How many nights am I able to request funding for?

Funding is available for accommodation for a total nights: # of conference days + 1.

I’m attending a Case Competition/Conference. What elements of my experience are eligible to be included in my budget request?

Reimbursement is available for: major travel (airplane/trains), cost of hotel/AirBnB, and event registration fees. Funding is not eligible for minor travel (taxi/Uber/transit) nor food/grocery costs.

I’m applying for the grant for a team activity, but my teammate paid for everything.

Your team is still able to be reimbursed, however the reimbursed amount would go to the person whose name is on the receipts. The person whose name is on the receipts must be a BCom or DAP student. Your team would then coordinate payments between team members on your own terms. This is not the responsibility of UBC Sauder.

I am applying for the grant on behalf of my club/team. Does this mean my entire team is ineligible to apply for further grant funding for the next two academic years?

If the grant is used to fund a student led event or initiative, or case competition/conference, the club/team will not be eligible for funding for the next two academic years. However, the individual members are still eligible to apply for personal grants in the future.

If the committee decides to fund my application, however I do not accept, would I still have to wait two academic years before applying again?

No – The two-year rule would only apply to applicants who received/were reimbursed for any amount of funding from the grant.

As an applicant for a Student Led Initiative, what should I be cognizant of in my application?

The Student Experience Grant is looking to fund opportunities where applicants: (1) are proposing a new, innovative, and clearly defined program to fill a niche not already being filled for current BCom or DAP students. (2) have a clear funding breakdown of how the funds will be spent. (3) are able to provide justification and rationale for how they plan to implement the initiative, at scale.

How will I receive funding from the OSAS Grant?

Learning/Case Competition/Conferences, once all of the purchases have been made, please submit all receipts through the funding acceptance form by the term deadline. Only then will UBC Sauder Finance reimburse these costs.

For organizers of Student Led Initiatives, if you are applying on behalf of an organization, your organization will invoice the OSAS Grant and UBC Sauder Finance will pay the invoice. If you are an individual organizing an initiative, we will reimburse receipts after they have been purchased or you may direct your partners to invoice UBC Sauder directly. The OSAS Grant does not pay invoices from individual students.