Even for adults with careers and adequate means, Toronto isn’t the most affordable place to live.
But a study conducted by job-finding website “AppJobs” said for students, it’s one of the best big cities in the world to go to university in.
On their way to a long weekend, many students we spoke to Thursday agreed.
“You’re not isolated from the rest of the world (in Toronto), so you don’t have to constantly be at school,” said Celtic studies student Livy Wren.
“You can enjoy the university life and if that’s not enough, you can just take the subway and be in another neighbourhood,” echoed Oscar Baracos, a University of Toronto computer science student originally from Paris, France.
It hasn’t been easy for post-secondary students lately with many of them protesting provincial changes to OSAP in recent months, but music student Maria Fedyushina told Global News that affordability-wise, “it’s not so bad. In terms of other cities, I think it’s not as bad.”
The study ranked big cities across the globe using qualifiers like average rent rate, and the cost of a pint of beer.
Both can be expensive here. But some students do find ways around that.
“I live in residence and then my school is really close,” said music student Annie Cao. While civil engineering major Nathaniel Rzepka said “it definitely helps to buy your own beer.”
Toronto stands 13th on the list. The metrics used in this report tally average rent here at over $1,900 a month with over 11,000 part time jobs available. It also pegged the average cost of a pint just above $7. The top three cities in the study are Prague, Moscow and Berlin.
While the study is clearly intended to highlight the funner parts of student life, some said its focus on things like the cost of beer and number of concerts added a rose-tinted hue.
“Let’s factor in the price of daycare,” suggested physiology and neuroscience major Nancy Hamdy, noting that many older students have children that need to be tended to during class times.
“Let’s factor in the price of tampons.”
Global News personal finance expert Rubina Ahmed-Haq reminded students that paying for schooling and all its connected costs often means willfully giving up the expensive extra-curricular activities. If affordability is an issue, Ahmed-Haq suggested going to school elsewhere.
“Think of university towns. Towns that are not big cities,” she suggested.
“There’s often university pubs, university activities, transportation is often cheaper.”
Aside from Toronto there are two other Canadian cities named on the list. Montreal ranked fifth and Vancouver ranked 20th.