Nova Scotia has the highest undergraduate tuition by province in the country, according to a new report by Statistics Canada.
In a survey, the data agency gathered tuition fees for all publicly-funded universities and degree-granting colleges in Canada, for Canadian students, from Sept. 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023. The report was released on Wednesday.
It found that Nova Scotia sits at the top of the list for most expensive undergraduate tuition on average, amounting to $9,328 for the 2022/23 academic year. The average tuition in that province grew by three per cent since the previous year.
Saskatchewan was second on the list, with an average tuition of $8,854 this academic year, up by 5 per cent from 2021/22.
Atlantic Canada’s second province in the top three was New Brunswick, third on the list for most expensive, with an average undergraduate tuition of $8,284 — up by four per cent from the previous year.
Though Nova Scotia has the priciest tuition by province, some cities exceeded that amount.
The most expensive tuition overall by city was in London, Ont., home to Western University, with an average tuition of $10,208.
By province, Ontario’s average tuition is $7,920, placing fourth overall on the by-province list. The province only saw a $70 increase from the previous year in average tuition, as the Ontario government announced in the spring it will freeze tuition fees for the third year in a row.
Sackville, N.B., home to Mount Allison University, had the second-highest tuition by city in the country of $9,725.
The least expensive city was Trois-Rivières, Que., home to Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. StatsCanada said the city’s average tuition this year is $2,826.
Quebec was also listed as the least expensive by province, with an average tuition of $3,359 for Canadian students — up by three per cent from last year.
Quebec’s average undergraduate tuition amounts to just 36 per cent of Nova Scotia’s average tuition.
However, average tuition by city in Quebec does go up to $5,437 in Sherbrooke, according to the data.
The highest percentage change of tuition fees in Canada by province was in Newfoundland and Labrador, the second-least-expensive province. That province saw an increase of 12 per cent in average tuition fees from the 2021/22 academic year to this year, sitting at $3,400.
Alberta also saw a high percentage increase, 10 per cent, going from $6,582 in 2021/22 to $7,221 this year.
Overall in Canada, data shows the average tuition for Canadian students is $6,834.
This number is much higher for international students, at an average of $22,022 this academic year.
Ontario’s average tuition for international students is the most expensive, at $25,749 for the year, followed by Nova Scotia at $22,075.
More data on international undergraduate tuition fees is available on Statistics Canada.