University fees - International students

International students are students who don’t meet the criteria to be in the “Canadian” category. For more, learn about status in Canada.

Cost of living in Canada

The cost of living in Canada varies by province and territory and can even be quite different from city to city within the same region. When budgeting for university studies, take into consideration the cost of housing (rent or residence fees), textbooks, a cellphone plan, internet access, food, clothing and other items. Learn more about budgeting for university.

Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship

The University of Ottawa offers a Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship to international Francophone and Francophile students enrolled in a bachelor’s or master’s program as of September 2021, or in the French Immersion Stream. Learn about the Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship for international students studying in French.

International students enrolled in a PhD program are eligible for the International Doctoral Scholarship.

Differential tuition if you started before September 2021

If you began your studies at uOttawa before September 2021 and you’ve received a differential tuition exemption, your tuition fees are the same as those for Canadian students residing outside Ontario.

Understanding the tuition fee table

The following table shows tuition fees for regular students, that is, students admitted to a program leading to a uOttawa degree, certificate or diploma and enrolled in one or more courses in their program.

If you’re not looking to receive a uOttawa degree, certificate or diploma, you can enrol in courses for units as a special student. Learn about tuition fees for special students.

To understand the information below, including how fees change based on your progress, and to use it to estimate your university fees for a year or several terms, see our university fees home page.

Please note that the information published on this page May 31, 2022, was updated July 6, 2022.

Important note for PhD students beginning studies in May 2023

The 2022-2023 graduate (PhD) tuition per term (full time) amounts shown in the search table below are incorrect for the Spring-Summer 2023 term. They don’t take into account the most recent changes to the International Doctoral scholarship taking effect in May 2023 for all newly admitted international PhD students.

Here are the correct Spring-Summer graduate (PhD) tuition amounts (full time) for newly admitted international PhD students, with the total you’ll have to pay after receiving an International Doctoral Scholarship, valued at $3,000 per term.

Faculty (program)	Regular full-time tuition	Scholarship	Tuition with scholarship
Arts Education Health Sciences Medicine (except Epidemiology) Science Social Sciences	$5,825.85	$3,000	$2,825.85
Epidemiology Law	$5,935.77	$3,000	$2,935.77
Engineering	6,052.17	$3,000	$3,052.17
Management	$7,283.03	$3,000	$4,283.03

PhD students who began their studies before May 2023: If you began your doctoral studies at uOttawa before May 2023 and you’ve received the International Doctoral Scholarship, your tuition fees are equivalent to those for Canadian students residing outside Ontario.

Important: The official total of university fees you must pay appears on your statement of account, available about a month prior to the start of each term.

Research fees for part-time graduate studies

A research fee is a tuition fee paid by students admitted to a graduate program who’ve received approval to enrol part-time to research activities (master’s or doctorate). It’s a flat fee invoiced each term you have your part-time enrolment to research activities approved. Fees are determined based on your status in Canada.

You can’t enrol in courses if you enrol part-time to research activities. Therefore, you won’t be invoiced for course-related tuition fees for the term in question.

During a term in which you’re enrolled part-time to research activities, you must also pay ancillary fees based on your status in Canada.

Please note that the information published on this page May 31, 2022, was updated July 6, 2022.

Important: The official total of university fees you must pay appears on your statement of account, available about a month prior to the start of each term.

Our tuition fee predictability commitment

Because we’re committed to ensuring that newly-admitted international students are able to predict their tuition fees beyond first year, we’ve put in place the following:

Limiting tuition fee increases to 5.5% for international students admitted for the Spring-Summer 2022 term or earlier who remain enrolled full time and progress normally from one tuition fee level to the next.

This applies until you reach the final tuition fee level indicated for your program, after which you pay final-level tuition fees in subsequent years.

This excludes new fees that may be imposed by the Ontario government, ancillary fees, incidental fees and administrative fees.