Engineering Tuition Across Canada

For years, students have been characterized as poor and starving, and one of the major contributing factors is the high cost of tuition required to study in a post secondary institution. Engineering has typically been one of the more expensive programs to study, but have you ever wondered which school is the most expensive?

I have been involved in external engineering organizations for 3 years now and have been to several provincial and national conferences where one topic always seems to pop up: tuition.  I have had conversations with members of other engineering schools who complain about their tuition and there is always one thing that seems to be the same while talking to them; tuition at the University of Waterloo is more than any other school.  The difference is sometimes substantial and at other times not so shocking, but the consensus is that across Canadian engineering schools the cost to go to UW is one of the highest in the country.

Here is a review of some numbers from some engineering schools and the cheapest and the most expensive options for an engineering education.  Not all Canadian Universities are included and the numbers included are collected from the Registrar’s website of each of the universities so costs might not be 100% accurate.

Starting in the East, the cheapest tuition in the country is at the Memorial University of Newfoundland which receives heavy subsidies from the government for all of its programs.  At a total cost to the student of only $1500 per term TOTAL, (including all non-tuition fees) it is by far the cheapest program in Canada.  Making this school even more appealing is the fact that it offers a full co-op program which is very similar to Waterloo’s, meaning most of the money students make on work terms can be spent or saved for the future and won’t be going directly back to the university like it does for Waterloo students.  Sticking with Atlantic schools we move to the University of New Brunswick which seems to charge the same price for all faculties, but has a $500 yearly engineering program fee. The total cost per term is $3618 which turns out to be about standard for engineering programs across Canada.

Quebec is an interesting province which taxes its residents heavily for education and so is the only province in Canada to have three fee schedules:  Quebec residents, non Quebec Canadian residents and international students.  Both Concordia and McGill have similar fees averaging about $1900 for Quebec residents and $4500 for other Canadians.  Over a 4 year degree, Quebec residents save around $12,800 compared to students attending from other parts of the country.

Moving on to Ontario,  I have chosen schools in various situations such as UOIT, which is a new school and U of T which is of similar size to Waterloo.  The actual tuition costs of the Ontario schools are very similar but the fees added to tuition vary greatly.  Since UOIT is a fairly new school, the cost for buildings and infrastructure is passed onto students (similar to the fees charged in the past for SLC and TC construction) in the form of around $1600 in fees on top of their fairly average $3000 per term tuition.  U of T charges 4500 in tuition which is pretty close to what UW students pay. Heading north to Lakehead, the tuition looks more like the rest of Canada charging $3170 per term including all fees however it’s free if students maintain a 95% or higher average.

Moving through Ontario and into Manitoba, we arrive at the second cheapest tuition among the schools considered.  The University of Manitoba has similar tuition to other schools in the West but with fees as low as $59, making the amount charged per term $2003.  It is also interesting to note that the endowment fund at U of M collects a measly $2.78 per term for their endowment fund.

Moving further west to Alberta, University of Calgary costs $2580.45 in tuition and $328.55 in fees, bringing the total sum to $2909 which is lower than the average fee across Canada.

Lastly, University of British Columbia tuition and fees compare with that of Calgary, at $2584 and $435 respectively. However, UBC will be increasing its fee from $550 per course to $750 per course which will increase the total sum by a significant amount. UBC charges $28.50 as its Engineering Society, fee, double of what we pay here at Waterloo.

Hopefully, this article has enlightened you a bit on the distribution of fees across Canada. At the end of the day, the question remains, is the fee that you are paying today worth the education that you are getting now and the experiences that this education will lead to in the future?