What will university actually cost when your child gets there?
Not what it costs today — what it will cost in the year they start. That gap is where most family plans quietly fall short, and it’s the number worth knowing before you decide how much to save.
Government figures on this page are verified against canada.ca. Tuition and cost ranges are estimates from Statistics Canada.
The current numbers
What university costs in Canada right now
Average undergraduate tuition for a Canadian student is $7,734 for 2025/26, plus $1,214 in compulsory fees — about $8,948 a year before housing. Add residence and a meal plan and a year away from home commonly runs $19,000 to $28,000, so four years on national averages lands between roughly $76,000 and $112,000 — more in the priciest provinces.
Tuition and fee figures below are Statistics Canada’s, released 10 September 2025, in current dollars. They are exact. Housing is given as a range, because it varies more than anything else on this page.
| Province or territory | Tuition | Compulsory fees | Per year | Four years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | $7,734 | $1,214 | $8,948 | $35,792 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $3,746 | $389 | $4,135 | $16,540 |
| Prince Edward Island | $8,191 | $807 | $8,998 | $35,992 |
| Nova Scotia | $9,988 | $1,199 | $11,187 | $44,748 |
| New Brunswick | $9,938 | $808 | $10,746 | $42,984 |
| Quebec | $3,963 | $1,236 | $5,199 | $20,796 |
| Ontario | $8,958 | $1,310 | $10,268 | $41,072 |
| Manitoba | $5,993 | $1,207 | $7,200 | $28,800 |
| Saskatchewan | $9,863 | $595 | $10,458 | $41,832 |
| Alberta | $8,067 | $1,393 | $9,460 | $37,840 |
| British Columbia | $6,862 | $867 | $7,729 | $30,916 |
| Yukon | $4,470 | $454 | $4,924 | $19,696 |
Source: Statistics Canada, table 37-10-0045-01 (tuition) and table 37-10-0046-01 (compulsory fees), current dollars, 2025/26, released 10 September 2025. The four-year column multiplies today’s rate by four; it does not add annual increases. Tuition rose 3.3% in current dollars over the previous year (1.4% after inflation), so a child starting later will pay more — the calculator further down projects that. International undergraduate tuition averages $41,746 a year and is not included here. Northwest Territories and Nunavut are not covered by the survey.
Living away from home is the bigger number
Tuition is the part everyone quotes. Residence and food usually cost more. Two published examples for the current year:
- Queen’s University, 2026–27: $11,934 to $19,164 for a room plus the mandatory meal plan.
- University of Calgary, 2025–26: roughly $9,200 to $17,200 for a first-year room plus a mandatory meal plan.
Budget $10,000 to $19,000 a year for residence and food. Books, supplies, transport and personal spending sit on top of that again, and every school publishes its own estimate — check the one your child is applying to rather than trusting a national average.
Four years in Ontario, living at home
about $41,000Tuition and compulsory fees only, at today’s rates. No residence, no meal plan.
Four years in Ontario, living away
$81,000 to $117,000The same tuition and fees, plus $10,000 to $19,000 a year for residence and food.
Staying home is worth more than any school choice, any scholarship most students will win, and more than the government grants combined. It is worth raising early, while it is still a conversation and not a decision already made.
Tuition is the part everyone quotes. It’s rarely the biggest cost.
Average domestic undergraduate tuition in Canada runs around $7,734 a year, but a four-year degree commonly costs between $50,000 and $130,000 once residence, food, books and transport are counted — and where your child studies usually matters more to the total than what they study.
The single biggest lever isn’t the school — it’s the postcode
Housing dominates the budget. A room near a large-city campus can cost two to three times one in a smaller university town, and living at home removes residence and the meal plan entirely — often cutting the annual cost by more than half.
Before you set a savings target, decide which scenario you’re planning for. Planning for the most expensive version of the future and landing on the cheapest is a good problem; the reverse is not.
Your child’s number — in their year, not this one.
Set today’s annual cost for the scenario you’re planning for, then see what it becomes by the time they start — and what you’d need to save to meet it.
Runs entirely in your browser — we don’t store or see your numbers. Costs are inflated at the rate you select and savings are compounded monthly at the return you select; neither is a forecast, and real returns vary and can be negative. The grant line is a simplified estimate of basic education savings grant at 20% of contributions, capped at the $7,200 lifetime maximum, and ignores income-tested and provincial amounts that could increase it. It excludes scholarships, bursaries, student earnings and loans. Educational illustration only.
Turn that number into a plan
Now you know the target. The next question is how to hit it — how much a month, which account, and which grants stack. That’s a fifteen-minute conversation.
Build my savings plan →You are not expected to save all of it.
Almost no family funds post-secondary from savings alone. The realistic goal is to shrink the gap that has to be borrowed — because about half of Canadian graduates start adult life with student debt — roughly $28,000 to $32,000 from all sources — and every dollar saved is a dollar not repaid with interest for a decade.
Start early
Time is the only input you can’t buy back later. It matters more than which fund you pick.
Claim every grant
Government grants add money to the plan — and are routinely left unclaimed.
Keep costs low
Fees compound against you over eighteen years exactly as returns compound for you.
What parents ask about the cost
How much does university actually cost in Canada?
How much does 4 years of university cost in Canada?
What is the average university tuition in Ontario?
What does living away from home add?
Does living at home really make that much difference?
Why do I need to project costs into the future?
Do I have to save the whole amount?
Is a degree still worth it?
What’s the most effective thing I can do about this cost?
Turn the number into a plan.
A free call: the realistic target for your family, which government grants you qualify for, whether any have been missed, and a monthly figure that actually fits your budget. No pressure and no obligation.
Harpreet Singh · LLQP-Licensed · Life Insurance & Segregated Funds · Ontario · Proudly Canadian. This page is general information only — not financial, investment, insurance, or tax advice. Cost figures are approximate ranges drawn from public sources including Statistics Canada and vary significantly by province, institution, program, and year; confirm current costs directly with the institutions you are considering. Projections use the assumptions you select, are illustrations rather than forecasts, and do not guarantee any outcome; investment returns vary and can be negative. Government grant rules, rates, and limits are set by the Government of Canada and may change. Speak with a qualified advisor about your own situation.
Harpreet is an LLQP-licensed insurance advisor based in Ontario, Canada. He helps families understand RESPs in plain language, claim every government grant they qualify for, and protect the plan with the right coverage — with straight answers and no pressure. More about Harpreet →