British Columbian full-time students in undergraduate programs paid $840 less in tuition fees for the 2014-15 academic year than the Canadian average.

“Our government is committed to keeping education affordable in B.C. for students, families and taxpayers through a range of programs and supports,” said Advanced Education Minister Amrik Virk. “These range from interest free loans during studies, to open textbooks, loan reduction and loan forgiveness grants for certain careers.

A Statistics Canada survey on tuition fees shows that undergraduate tuition in B.C. remains lower than Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.

B.C. still has the fourth-lowest undergraduate tuition fees at $5,118, a 2% increase between 2013-14 and 2014-15 compared to the Canadian average of $5,959, which increased 3.3% over the same time period. This is the ninth straight year that B.C.’s tuition increase has remained below the national average increase.

On average, B.C. students pay less than one-third of the cost of post-secondary education.

Statistics Canada data are from the survey of tuition and living accommodation costs for full-time students at Canadian-degree granting institutions including 11 public universities in B.C. The survey was administered from April to July 2014 and the data covers the 2014-15 academic year.

Learn More:

Statistics Canada tuition fees 2014-15:
www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/140911/dq140911b-eng.htm

Factsheet on tuition and student financial aid in B.C.:
www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/ministries/advanced-education/factsheets/factsheet-tuition-and-student-financial-aid-in-british-columbia.html

Media Contacts:

Stacey McGaghey-Jones
Communications Manager
Ministry of Advanced Education
250 952-6400