University tuition fees

Undergraduate university students can expect to pay 3.9% more on average in tuition fees when they return to school this fall, the smallest increase in three years. However, this average includes four provinces that have capped tuition fees: Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, and Ontario.

Undergraduate students will pay an average of $4,172 in tuition fees for the 2004/05 academic year, up from $4,018 the year before. This is almost triple the average of $1,464 in 1990/91, the result of significant increases during the 1990s.

The rate of increase has slowed during the past four years, following fee hikes that reached an annual average increase of 9.7% during the 1990s. Since 1999/00, the rate of increase of tuition fees has slowed to an annual average of 5.3%.

Average tuition fees still continue to rise faster than inflation. Between 1990/91 and 2002/03, tuition fees increased at an average annual rate of 8.1%, four times the average rate of inflation of 1.9% as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

While British Columbia lifted its cap on tuition increases, allowing universities to set their own fees, four other jurisdictions have imposed caps.

Fees up significantly in six provinces

Tuition fees are rising in nine provinces for the coming academic year, although in Ontario, Quebec, and Manitoba the increases are around 1%.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, they remained unchanged at an average of $2,606. Fees in Newfoundland and Labrador have declined 22.7% since the academic year 1999/2000.

Universities in British Columbia posted the largest increase for the third year in a row. Students there will be paying 15.6% more, although this is only about half the increase of 29.0% the year before. The province lifted a six-year tuition freeze in 2002/03.

The highest fees are again in Nova Scotia, where average tuition will cost $5,984 this fall, a 7.7% hike. That's followed by Ontario, where undergrads will pay an average of $4,960, up only 1.0%.

In Manitoba, where tuition fees have fallen about 9.4% since the beginning of the decade, students will pay an average of $3,160.

Quebec undergrads continue to pay the lowest fees in the country as a result of an eight-year tuition freeze that has kept fees at an average of $1,683 a year for resident students. However, students from other provinces attending universities in Quebec will have to pay $4,599 on average, up 6.0%.

Biggest increases in law and medicine

The biggest increases in tuition fees this fall will again occur for students in law and medicine. However the most expensive program remains dentistry.

The biggest year-over-year increase in tuition among the faculties is in the field of medicine, where undergrads will pay 9.2% more than they did last fall. Average tuition will be $9,977.

Students in law will pay an average of $6,471, up 7.9%. Since the start of the decade the tuition fees for law have risen 85%, the highest increase of all faculties.

Tuition will cost undergraduate students in dentistry $12,331 on average, a 5.6% increase from last year. Fees for dentistry have stabilized significantly since the late 1990s when annual increases were in the range of 40%.

Between 1990/91 and 2004/05, tuition for dentistry has increased at an annual average rate of 14.7%, compared with 13.4% for medicine and 11.3% for law.

The average tuition for an undergraduate student in arts this fall will increase 3.2% to $3,935.

Fees for graduate and international students also rising

Students in graduate programs are facing increases similar to the undergraduate level, with average tuition rising 4.3% to $5,475. This rate of increase is the smallest since 1994/95.

The largest increases for graduate programs are 20.5% in British Columbia and 6.8% in Nova Scotia.

Graduate students in Ontario will still pay the highest fees in the country ($8,389), followed by those in Nova Scotia ($7,345).

Graduate fees are stable in Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. They remain lowest in Quebec at $1,927, where they have been frozen for Quebec residents for the eighth consecutive year.

International students also face tuition hikes. At the undergraduate level, average tuition fees for international students will increase 5.6% to $11,903. Graduate tuition fees will increase 4.5% to $11,307 on average.

Foreign undergraduate students pay on average just under three times the price that Canadian students pay.

Undergraduate tuition fees for international students rose in all provinces. Manitoba still has the lowest fees at $6,399.

Additional compulsory fees on the rise

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

Canadian students will pay an average of $608 in additional compulsory fees for the coming academic year, up 2.8% from the previous year and the lowest increase in four years.

Students in British Columbia will face the highest increase in average compulsory fees this fall, up 28.1% to $748. Since 1999/00, these fees have more than tripled in British Columbia.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3123.

Information is also available on the cost of accommodation on campus.

For general information or to order data, contact Client Services (1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-9040). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Eda Reganaz (613-951-7556; Eda.Reganaz@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.