Tuition Costs for International Undergraduate and Graduate Students in Canada

A cross-country inventory of tuition costs for international students, with a focus on field and level of study.

Application season is here! If you're not sure what to study in university, this list might help. Using data gathered from Statistics Canada focused on the 2023 school year, we bring you the average tuition costs for international students in undergraduate and graduate degrees!

Find out what you can expect to spend on tuition at Canadian colleges and universities, depending on your field of study. This data is drawn from students pursuing bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctoral degrees, all of which are common at university. If you're considering a diploma program or certificate, you can expect to pay less than the average costs laid out here.

Undergraduate international students: bachelor degrees

The average tuition cost in Canada for undergraduate international students is $34,628 per year. Several fields fall below this cost, and others are much more expensive. Remember that Canada offers many diploma programs that can be less expensive, more hands-on, and quicker to complete. Diplomas are often focused less on theory and more on tangible, career-prep experiences. So be sure to consider diploma programs, too.

Here's a list for the average costs by field for international undergraduates in 2023; you can expect 2024 figures to be fairly similar. Most of these programs are four years, but many, like dentistry, medicine, and law, will often take longer, or require further education after your bachelor's degree. You may want to check out costs for grad students below as well!

These fields are ordered from most expensive to least expensive. Remember that a given school or program may be more or less expensive due to various factors, so take these as a rule of thumb.

Looking for info on specific provinces? Check out the StatCan data on their website using the pre-filtered searches below:

*For Quebec, please be aware that the data here is gathered from before changes to tuition in Quebec for out-of-province students which will raise costs to a minimum of $20,000 per year for international students.

Graduate international students: master's and doctoral degrees

If you're going to grad school, your average program cost is much less expensive than undergraduate education: $20,061 is the average, regardless of field of study, across Canada. Some programs, like MBAs, are much more expensive than other programs; even pharmacy and veterinary medicine! That said, some programs, like medicine, pharmacy, law, and so on, may require more than one or two years of study to complete.

This list only covers master's and doctoral programs: post-graduate diplomas are another option for continuing your studies beyond your degree, but on a shorter time-frame. Taking a post-grad diploma can help you get on the road to permanent residency in Canada more quickly.

And now, the list of tuition costs for international graduate students by field of interest:

**Medicine costs are not reported as part of this data, unfortunately. You can explore Canadian programs in the medical and health field to see what you can find!

Looking for info on specific provinces? Check out the StatCan data on their website using the pre-filtered searches below:

Remember, if you want to learn the real tuition cost for the programs that interest you most, you can explore programs in all sorts of program areas, then reach out to the school and speak to a member of the recruitment team. Check out some questions you should ask, and have fun!