# Tuition Costs in Canada



## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

After a recent discussion on MDJ about helping kids out with their university expenses, it got me curious as to tuition fees across the country. 

I'll start, 

When i graduated MUN in 2003, it was about $1900 for tuition for 5 courses/semester not including books. I believe that tuition is about the same today.


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## canabiz (Apr 4, 2009)

It was $1,500 for a semester for me at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering from 1997 - 2001. Books and other expenses were extra. 

Just a quick note: for higher education, sometimes community colleges are a better choice, depending on your passion or interest. And the tuition fee is a fraction of what you will pay at university.


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## investnoob (Jun 29, 2009)

canabiz said:


> It was $1,500 for a semester for me at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Engineering from 1997 - 2001. Books and other expenses were extra.
> 
> Just a quick note: for higher education, sometimes community colleges are a better choice, depending on your passion or interest. And the tuition fee is a fraction of what you will pay at university.


Really? That's pretty cheap. I graduated from Ottawa U, in 2001, with a degree in english lit and my tuition was closer to 2400 per semester (after fees). So, I guess I don't know the tuition rates before fees. 

It seems more and more universities are just tacking on fees to their tuition.

edit: (or p.s.?) now it is over 2800 a semester (including fees): http://www.admission.uottawa.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=3399


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## Agape (Apr 3, 2009)

For engineering at the University of Manitoba, you are looking at about 2800 for a 5 course term this coming year. And yes it does seem that fees keep on rising.


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

UofToronto engineering is approaching $5k per semester. Multiply that by ~2.5 for international students.


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## byronbb (Jun 7, 2009)

I think I had gone up a lot since I graded from UBC. $1800 is a number I think I recall but not sure. I was talking to a girl about to go back to UBC and she said something like 3k.


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## onomatopoeia (Apr 8, 2009)

There is a rough caculator at CB from 2006-2007.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/my_money/planning/education/university_cost/tool.jsp

When I graduated in 2003 from Dal I was paying around 6k a year, so 3k a semester.

Nova Scotia has the highest tuition in the country. If I had my time back I would have gone to Mun for sure for undergrad, undergrad is undergrad, doesn't really matter what university you go to. It would have cost around the same amount for tuition ad board in NL than it was to stay at home and go to dal.

Stats can has some good nationwide stats they release every year on tuition rates

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/081009/dq081009a-eng.htm


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## MGL (Apr 6, 2009)

I graduated from MUN in 2002, and tuition rates were as FT said- about $1800-$1900 a semester. IIRC, the rates are actually a little lower now! 

Law school was a whole other story- graduated in 2005, at which time tuition was around $12k a year.


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## Sampson (Apr 3, 2009)

This sure is a test of my memory...

University of Calgary (Bachelors) - 1997-2000 - roughly $1300-$1600 per semester - tuition really bumped up the last year I was enrolled.

University of Alberta (Masters) - 2000-200X (no one wants to know how long it took me) - roughly $6000 per year - before subsidies.


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## cannon_fodder (Apr 3, 2009)

I graduated from UWO in 1987 and, get this, the total for a 6 course honours degree in science, activity fees and tuition and books (I got a lot of used ones) was less than $1,500 for the year!

I had no idea it was as expensive as it is now. Thank goodness I started my daughter's RESP waaaaay back when she was about 4.


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## michika (Apr 20, 2009)

Undergrad at the University of Alberta (2002-2007) set me back about $5,500 per year for 5 courses each semester. Given my program though I also had to lay out about $800 per semester for books too though.

I pay $1,830 now per semester at a different University, however I'm only doing 3 courses per term now. My total cost would be $3,050 including books per term if I was doing 5 courses.

I used to pay all my own costs each year by saving $250 per check year round and then paying on a CC. I unfortunately had no help with my education so it took me a little longer. I did have RESPs, but they didn't go very far.


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## 83gemini (Apr 4, 2009)

UofT law now costs more then 20k (when I started it was closer to 18k). 

One thing I wonder is what the real cost of the education is after the tax credits.


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## Kathryn (Apr 10, 2009)

My spouse pays $7500 a year for his PhD at UofT .. not sure how different that is from undergrad fees.


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## MoneyGal (Apr 24, 2009)

...it isn't that hard to figure out what the after-tax cost of education is in any given year. 

Let's use $20,000 tuition and a student who attends full-time for 8 months in a year. 

Tax credit amount = 

$20,000 [tuition] + (8*$400) [education credit] + (8*$65) [textbook credit] = $23,700 (this is the gross amount)

*15% (to get credit amount) = $3,558

So, $20,000 tuition - $3,558 tax credit = $16,442 after-tax amount in a given year. 

The tuition, education and textbook tax credits can be carried forward or transferred. 

If you attend for fewer (or more) months, attend part-time, or pay a different amount in tuition, you will get a different tax credit. But the tax credit rate is always the amount of the lowest tax bracket, so it isn't variable. 

HTH!


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## Kathryn (Apr 10, 2009)

As well ....

"Scholarships, Fellowships and Bursary Income
The 2006 federal budget fully exempted from taxation all scholarship, fellowship or bursary income with respect to post-secondary education or occupational training in a program, one that entitles the student to claim the education tax credit. Previously, only the first $3,000 of such income was exempt." taken from http://www.cga-ontario.org/contentfiles/post_secondary/taxtips.aspx

This has made a significant difference in our situation.


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## canehdianman (Apr 7, 2009)

U of A law was ~4,500 per semester from 2005-2007.


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## kayo (Apr 5, 2009)

I graduated from Queen's Engineering in 2005, and I vaguely remember the tuition per semester being ~5,000.


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## Rickson9 (Apr 9, 2009)

Tuition in Canada is very inexpensive.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

Rickson9 said:


> Tuition in Canada is very inexpensive.


No joke! And it has been that way for a long time. In the 1960s and 70s, my older siblings were given two choices by my father: either they went to McGill or the State University of New York (since we lived in New York state and all of us kids qualified for scholarships). My two oldest siblings went to McGill, which at that time was the cheapest good institution of higher education in North America. My other brother and I went to the State University of New York on full scholarships. This was how my father was able to fulfill his promise to us that he would pay our tuition for college


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## Mockingbird (Apr 29, 2009)

Rickson9 said:


> Tuition in Canada is very inexpensive.


Yes, compared to USA, UK, and Autralia 

Comparison of tuition costs of higher education around the world


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## camhard (Jul 9, 2009)

I'm paying $3100/semester (average - first semester is more, because all student fees are tacked on then; in the winter, the cost is only for courses), for an annual cost of $6200. This is for 18 credits (i.e. 6 courses) per semester at UBC.


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## domanb (Aug 5, 2009)

I went to UofT for computer science from 2001-2007. In the first year it was about $2400 per semseter. In my second year (2002-2003) they switched to a deregulated flat fee cost, and it jumped to $7200 for 2 semesters + another $700 for fees. This was for a full-time student, meaning you could take anywhere from 4-6 courses and you still paid the same. Engineering is higher if I recall.


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