University tuition fees 2009/2010

Canadian full-time students in undergraduate programs faced the same increase in tuition fees (+3.6%) for the 2009/2010 academic year as they did a year earlier.

On average, undergraduate students paid $4,917 in tuition fees in 2009/2010, compared with $4,747 in 2008/2009.

In comparison, between August 2008 and August 2009, inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined 0.8%. During the same 12-month period in the previous year, the CPI rose 3.5%.

Tuition fees increased in all but three provinces this fall. Fees remained unchanged in Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick, while they declined in Nova Scotia (-3.1%) for a second year in a row.

Two provinces ended freezes on tuition fees with increases — Manitoba (+4.3%) and Saskatchewan (+3.4%). Elsewhere, tuition fee increases ranged from 2.0% in British Columbia to 5.0% in Ontario. Ontario’s increase was the limit legislated by the Ontario government.

On average, undergraduate students in Ontario also paid the highest fees in Canada at $5,951. Students in Nova Scotia had the second-highest average tuition fees at $5,696.

Quebec undergrads continued to pay the lowest fees, averaging $2,272, followed by those in Newfoundland and Labrador at $2,619.

Canadian graduate students face greater increase than undergrads

At the national level, graduate students faced larger tuition fee increases than undergraduate students.

Canadian undergraduates: Dentistry students pay highest average fees in Canada

As was the case in 2008/2009, undergraduate students in dentistry paid the highest fees on average ($13,988), nearly three times the average of all undergraduate disciplines, followed by students in medicine ($10,216).

Undergraduate students in veterinary medicine saw the largest increase (+15.6%), and ended up paying $5,110 in the current academic year, followed by architecture and related services programs with a 6.5% rise. Increases in other fields ranged from 1.9% (business, management and public administration) to 5.9% (law).

At the graduate level, the most expensive program was the executive master of business administration (MBA), with tuition of $30,653, and the regular MBA program at $20,564. However, students in the executive MBA program had the smallest increase of all graduate programs from 2008/2009 to 2009/2010 at 2.5%.

International students paying more
Nationally, the average increase for international students in undergraduate programs was 7.1%, and they had average fees of $15,674.

Additional compulsory fees on the rise
The bundle of services included in additional compulsory fees varies from one institution to the next and can change over time. Typically, they include fees for athletics, student health services, student association and other fees that apply to full-time Canadian students.

You can find more details of this release at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/091020/dq091020b-eng.htm

For further information or to schedule interviews with a Statistics Canada Analyst regarding this release please contact: Jey Dharmaraj, at: (416) 954-5976