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Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship Program

Applications for the 2026 program are now closed, and will re-open Feb 1, 2027.

Are you ready to re-imagine your future?

It takes incredible bravery and determination to pursue post-secondary education in the face of adversity – especially for students impacted by the loss of a parent or guardian with little to no life insurance coverage.

That's why we created the Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship Program to help students aged 17 to 24 who have lost a parent or legal guardian with little or no life insurance to pursue their post-secondary education.

Planning to apply for the 2027 program? See eligibility criteria below and apply between February 1 and March 31, 2027.

What is the Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship program?

Manulife has introduced the first Life Lessons Scholarship Program in Canada, for students who’ve experienced the death of a parent or guardian with little to no life insurance.

Each $10,000 scholarship helps combat the financial burden of paying for post-secondary education during an emotional time and recognizes the perseverance that so many youth show in such adversity.

The Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship Program is committed to student success and helps support students financially, making the decision to attend and finish a college, university or trade school program a little easier.

The Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship Program recipients are more than recipients. They’re students who’ve already achieved so much, even if the face of adversity. These students demonstrate the emotional and financial impact of losing a parent or guardian and the perseverance to carry through their post-secondary goals. They emphasize the importance of financial planning and remind us why we all need life insurance.

Rules and Regulations

Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship (the “Scholarship”)

  1. Eligibility

    To enter and be eligible to receive the Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship (the “Scholarship”), you must be a permanent resident of Canada between 17 and 24 years of age on the date when your application is submitted, have experienced the death of a parent or guardian who died with little or no life insurance, and be enrolled in, or have been accepted to (and intend to attend) a college, university, or trade school within Canada. You are not eligible to enter this contest if you, your spouse, child or parent or a person you are domiciled with, is an employee of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company (“Manulife”), Life Happens, managing general agencies working with Manulife, or their subsidiaries, affiliates, or their promotional or advertising agencies.
  2. How to enter

    No purchase necessary to enter or receive the Scholarship. To enter, visit www.manulife.ca between 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on February 23, 2026, and 8:00 p.m. on March 31, 2026 and complete and submit the online application form, including an essay of no more than 500 words or video entry of no more than 3 minutes describing the financial and emotional challenges you have experienced as a result of the death of a parent or legal guardian (the “Entry”). The Entry must be prepared by you or on your behalf and with your authorization by your surviving parent or legal guardian. The Entry must explain how the lack of adequate life insurance coverage (or no coverage at all) impacted your family’s financial situation. Comment specifically on how things might have turned out differently for you and your family if the person who died had adequate life insurance coverage. Also indicate what you have done to provide for yourself and/or other family members because of financial challenges your family has faced. Online Entries, which may include any other recordings, pictures, videos or images (“Recordings”), must be received by March 31, 2026. Each Entry becomes the property of Manulife and will not be returned. Limit one (1) entry per entrant. An Entry must be submitted in English or French, be an original creation, be true and verifiable, created solely by entrant or on the entrant’s behalf, with no restrictions or limitations on entrant’s right to submit or Manulife’s right to use the Entry. Manulife will, among other uses, post all selected Entries and/or Recordings to their websites. An Entry cannot have previously won a scholarship from Life Happens or Manulife. An Entry must be 100% original and not contain third party materials subject to copyright including but not limited to music, video clips, artwork, and photos. An Entry cannot defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any person’s personal or proprietary rights. Modifying, enhancing, or altering a third party’s pre-existing work does not qualify as entrant’s original creation. An Entry must not be offensive or inappropriate, as determined by judges in their sole discretion. Manulife reserves the right to disqualify any entry it deems to be inappropriate, offensive, or not in keeping with the image of Manulife or Life Happens, in its sole discretion.
  3. Judging and selection criteria

    All eligible entries received will be judged by a panel of judges (appointed by Manulife) on the criteria of (not necessarily in order of importance): (1.) The compelling nature of the story); (2.) How instructive the story is with regards to the need for proper insurance planning (i.e., how the lack of adequate life insurance coverage impacted the family’s ability to meet future financial goals) and (3.) The determination of the student to not allow his/her loss to prevent him/her from realizing the goal of pursuing high education. In the event of a tie, the judging panel will vote to determine the recipient. Selection of the scholarship recipients will be based only on the information provided in the application. No restrictions will be placed on scholarship recipients holding other grants or awards or receiving assistance or income from other sources. There will be no geographic allocation of the scholarships.

    Potential recipients will be selected between April 1, 2026, and May 31, 2026 and will be notified by telephone and/or email on or after June 1, 2026. Manulife reserves the right not to award some or all allotted scholarships in the event it receives an insufficient number of entries, or a lack of entries that achieve a satisfactory minimum score based on the above judging criteria, as determined by the judges in their sole discretion.
  4. Scholarships

    Scholarships will be paid directly to the recipients in July 2026. Scholarships of $10,000 will be offered for the September 2026 term. All taxes and any other costs and expenses associated with being awarded a scholarship are the recipients’ sole responsibility. No transfer, assignment, cash redemption, or substitution of scholarship. All scholarship details are at the sole discretion of Manulife. Scholarship recipients will be required to provide proof of enrolment prior to receiving scholarship funds.
  5. Scholarship recipient notification

    The scholarship recipients will be notified on or after June 1, 2026. If, after making such efforts as Manulife in its sole discretion deems reasonable, a potential scholarship recipient cannot be notified by telephone or email using the contact information provided on the application, or a potential scholarship recipient does not respond to any message and contact number left on any answering service associated with a potential scholarship recipient’s telephone number, that potential scholarship recipient may be disqualified, and a runner-up may be notified. Manulife shall not be responsible if, for any reason, the potential scholarship recipient does not receive notification. Potential scholarship recipients will be required to execute and return a Representation Agreement and a Consent, Waiver and Release within 15 days of notification. Non-compliance with the foregoing may result in disqualification and a runner-up may be notified.
  6. General conditions

    • Manulife, as the administrator of the Scholarship, reserves the right to terminate or alter these rules at any time without prior notice. Current rules are posted at: www.manulife.com
    • Declared scholarship recipients agree to sign Manulife’s standard Representation Agreement and Consent, Waiver and Release confirming compliance with the rules and regulations and waiving any liability of Manulife, its directors, officers, employees, and agents, affiliates and advisors related to injury, accident, or loss or damage of any kind arising out of participation in this scholarship program.  If a declared recipient is determined to be ineligible by Manulife or fails to return the completed Representation Agreement and Consent, Waiver and Release as required within 15 days of notification, Manulife may declare a scholarship to be forfeited and new potential scholarship recipients may be selected and contacted, in accordance with rule #5 above, until a new recipient is declared.
    • Manulife assumes no responsibility for Entries that are lost, stolen, delayed, damaged, or misdirected either prior to or after delivery of the entry to Manulife.  Entries are subject to verification and will be declared invalid if they are or become illegible, mechanically reproduced, mutilated, forged, falsified, altered or tampered with in any way. Entrants agree to abide by these rules and the decisions of Manulife, which are final. All Entries become the property of Manulife and will not be returned.
    • By accepting the scholarship, the scholarship recipient consents to the use of their name, address and/or photographs, application, and the narrative described within the application, including any essay or video, without further compensation, in any advertising or publicity as may be carried out by Manulife in its sole discretion.
    • If an Entry has been prepared on your behalf, the creator of the Entry will be asked to sign a separate release form consenting to Manulife’s use and disclosure of the Entry. consenting to Manulife’s use and disclosure of the Entry.
    • If Manulife determines that potential scholarship entrants are experiencing difficulty or are prevented from applying for the scholarship due to technical difficulties, Manulife may, without notice to any entrant or potential entrant, extend the contest for such period of time as Manulife deems appropriate in the circumstances.
    • Any litigation respecting the conduct or organization of a publicity contest may be submitted to the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux for a ruling. Any litigation respecting the awarding of a prize may be submitted to the board only for helping the parties reach a settlement.
  7. Privacy statement

    As a leading financial services provider, we respect your privacy, and you can access our privacy policies online. All information is confidential and will not be sold to third parties. The information submitted in connection with this scholarship, including while completing or submitting the application, may be stored outside of Canada.

    Manulife, Manulife & Stylized M Design, and Stylized M Design are trademarks of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and are used by it, and by its affiliates under license. Life Happens and Life Lessons Scholarship Program are trademarks of Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education and are used by The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company and its affiliates under license.

    Manulife’s Life Lessons Scholarship program is done in partnership with Life Happens, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping consumers make smart decisions to safeguard their families’ financial futures. Life Happens does not endorse any insurance company, product, or advisor. © 2026 Life Happens  www.lifehappens.org