Domestic students in Canada pursuing a degree in dentistry pay on average the highest undergraduate tuition fees, while future teachers pay the lowest.
According to Statistics Canada, fees for aspiring dentists average out at $22,731 for 2021-22, tops among 19 surveyed fields of study. Education students pay the least at $4,947. According to the figures, domestic students enrolled full-time in undergraduate programs will pay $6,693 on average for the upcoming academic year, up 1.7 per cent from the previous year.
Figures show Canadian undergraduate students in six professional degree programs paid the highest average annual tuition fees. Following dentistry at number one were medicine ($14,604), veterinary medicine ($14,374), law ($12,910), pharmacy ($11,373) and optometry ($10,735).
RELATED: COVID-19 could cost Canadian universities millions, even billions: Statistics Canada
Executive and regular masters of business administration (MBA) programs remain the most expensive program on the graduate level.
The average tuition for an executive MBA is $51,295, while the average tuition fee for a regular MBA is $29,286. Graduate students pursuing business, management and public administration masters programs paid on average the third-highest tuition fees at $14,272 followed by dentistry with $13,114.
The figures were compiled against the backdrop of growing concern among students about how they’ll pay for their education.
“While research shows that the earnings premium of having a post-secondary education eventually outweighs the cost of obtaining one, many post-secondary students face financial challenges, which were heightened during the pandemic,” read an analysis accompanying the Stats Can report.
While recent figures shows some improvement in the job prospects for post-secondary students, it will likely be several years before the longer-term financial impacts of the pandemic on students can be fully understood, it read.
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