International Students Pay Steeper Tuition Fees

There are a number of issues facing overseas students attending Canadian universities, and staggering tuition fees are at the very top of the list. To obtain an undergraduate degree in Arts and Humanities, overseas students and their families must be prepared to spend up to six times more than domestic students for the same education.

According to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC), tuition fees for an undergraduate program at the University of British Columbia run $4,700 for Canadian students, while overseas students pay up to $22,622. The University of Calgary’s domestic students pay $5,333 in fees while their international counterparts pay over $18,000. The University of Toronto charges up to $5,900 for domestic students and up to $28,400 for overseas students.

Quebec charges some of the highest fees. Although the province has some of the lowest tuition fees in the country, second only to Newfoundland and Labrador, it charges up to six times more for overseas students. Tuition at Bishop’s University, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, McGill University and Concordia University varies between $2,422 and $6,112 for Canadian students. Tuition at the same universities for overseas students vary between $14,816 and $16,513.

Universities argue that there’s a higher cost to international recruitment programs and student services for overseas students, which figure into those higher tuition rates. However, critics argue that the fees that are charges far exceed the costs involved with recruiting international students and helping them settle in.

And tuition fees are only the beginning.

International students don’t have the same opportunities for financial aid and scholarships, nor are they eligible for coverage under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. A Canadian education is thus affordable only to overseas students whose families can – or are willing to – carry the financial burden of all of the associated costs of attending a Canadian university – tuition, insurance, transportation, books and more.

International students brought $8-billion to the Canadian economy in 2010. The federal government’s current goal is to double the number of overseas students by 2022, which is expected to inject $18 billion into the Canadian economy in that year alone.