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Application season is here! If you're not sure what to study in university, this list might help. Using data gathered from Statistics Canada focused on the 2025 school year, we bring you the average tuition costs for Canadian students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees!
Find out what you can expect to spend on tuition at Canadian colleges and universities, depending on your field of study. This data is drawn from students pursuing bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees, and doctoral degrees, all of which are common at university. If you're considering a diploma program or certificate, you can expect to pay less than the average costs laid out here.
The average tuition cost for Canadian students pursuing a bachelor's degree is $6,510 per year. Several fields fall below this cost, and others are much more expensive. Remember that Canada offers many diploma programs that can be less expensive, more hands-on, and quicker to complete — so be sure to consider diploma programs, too.
Here's a list for the average costs by field for Canadian undergraduates in 2024/25. Be aware that this includes programs that typically lead to professional degrees, so you may want to check out costs for grad students below as well!
These fields are ordered from most expensive to least expensive. Remember that a given school or program may be more or less expensive due to various factors, so consider these figures as estimates.
Field of study (undergraduate) | Average cost (CAD) |
Dentistry | $22,597 |
Medicine | $14,186 |
Veterinary medicine | $14,141 |
Law | $12,628 |
Pharmacy | $12,233 |
Optometry | $9,680 |
Engineering | $8,201 |
Business, management, and public administration | $7,047 |
Mathematics, computer, and information sciences | $6,767 |
Architecture | $6,350 |
Other health, parks, recreation, and fitness | $5,851 |
Agriculture, natural resources, and conservation | $5,849 |
Visual and performing arts, and communications technologies | $5,747 |
Nursing | $5,664 |
Physical and life sciences and technologies | $5,636 |
Personal, protective, and transportation services | $5,586 |
Humanities | $5,556 |
Social and behavioural sciences, and legal studies | $5,508 |
Education | $4,908 |
All programs, across Canada | $6,510 |
Check out undergrad programs across Canada
If you're going to grad school, your average program cost is pretty similar to your undergrad: $6,886 is the average, regardless of field of study, across Canada. Some programs, like MBAs, are much more expensive than other programs; even pharmacy and veterinary medicine! Wondering how to apply to graduate school? Get the grad school guide here.
This list only covers Master's and doctoral programs: post-graduate diplomas are another option for continuing your studies beyond your degree, but on a shorter time-frame. And now, the list of tuition costs for Canadian graduate students by field of interest:
Field of study (graduate) | Average cost (CAD) |
Medicine | No data** |
Executive MBA | $69,310 |
Regular MBA | $33,127 |
Business, management and public administration | $13,931 |
Dentistry | $12,900 |
Mathematics, computer and information sciences | $9,344 |
Engineering | $8,207 |
Personal, protective, and transportation services | $8,186 |
Other health, parks, recreation, and fitness | $7,342 |
Physical and life sciences and technologies | $7,121 |
Education | $7,024 |
Architecture | $6,727 |
Agriculture, natural resources, and conservation | $6,723 |
Social and behavioural sciences, and legal studies | $6,294 |
Nursing | $6,280 |
Visual and performing arts, and communications technologies | $6,266 |
Law | $6,140 |
Humanities | $5,164 |
Optometry | $4,508 |
Veterinary medicine | $4,239 |
Pharmacy | $4,150 |
All programs, across Canada | $7,662 |
**Medicine costs are not reported as part of this data, unfortunately. You can explore Canadian programs in the medical and health field or consider schools abroad, like the Caribbean or other top-ranked schools around the world!
Check out grad programs across Canada
Remember, if you want to learn the real tuition cost for the programs that interest you most, you can explore programs in all sorts of program areas, then reach out to the school and speak to a member of the recruitment team. Check out some questions you should ask, and have fun!
Take our new quiz to find the right program for you