Ontario first-year engineering and science costs

A useful budget starts with a clear period. These examples cover two study terms and the room and meal contract shown. They are not twelve-month living budgets. A student who stays away from home in summer needs another row for those months. Books, a laptop, course supplies, travel and personal spending also need room in your own plan. We have not filled those gaps with an invented allowance.

The figures answer a narrow question: what do the selected tuition, fees, residence and meals add up to? They do not rank the value of a degree or tell you which school will cost your family least. A different room, credit load or fee category changes the result. Use the chart to see the scale of these examples, then read the profile beside the number. The Ontario residence guide helps you compare housing choices beyond price.

Use the degree and campus from the offer you are comparing. Science does not mean Computer Science in every fee schedule. Our Western Science row excludes Computer Science, as Western's fee schedule does. York uses 36 first-year credits for the engineering example and 30 for the selected science load. Queen's lists 32.2 units for Engineering and 30 for the ordinary Arts and Science row. A shared word such as full-time does not make those billing rules equal.

Each row uses the Ontario domestic rate, not the other-Canadian or international column. Check how the school classifies you before using these amounts. We keep the full published fee slate and assume no opt-out. That includes health and dental charges where listed. This is a planning choice for these calculations, not a claim that every charge is compulsory for every student. Your account and any approved changes will set what you actually owe.

Carleton publishes a combined Fall and Winter fee for each year of study. Its full-fee category starts at 2.0 billing hours per term. The first-year Bachelor of Engineering row, excluding the separate Mechatronics category, is $12,290.12. The Bachelor of Science row is $7,637.46. Those amounts already include compulsory miscellaneous fees and the U-Pass. We do not add another general student-fee estimate on top.

For housing, we choose a traditional double in Dundas with the All Access meal plan. The 2026-27 package is $14,010.36. It includes room utilities, internet, meals, residence association fees and tenant insurance. The $700 advance is a payment toward that package. It is not another $700 of annual cost. The resulting totals are $26,300.48 for Engineering and $21,647.82 for Science. Review other fee categories in the Carleton tuition guide, and room options in the Carleton residence guide.

Our Queen's science example uses the ordinary Bachelor of Science fee row in Arts and Science, with 30 units. It excludes the separately priced Computing, Kinesiology and Concurrent Education routes. Tuition is $6,204.60, with a $100 Student Assistance Levy and $1,466.51 ancillary fees. Engineering and Applied Science uses 32.2 units: $12,152.92 tuition, a $110 levy and $1,525.83 ancillary fees. These are separate charges in the academic schedule.

We pair both programs with a Victoria Hall double. The published Double total is $17,618.80 and already includes the Weekly 19 meal plan. It also includes the printed $805 deposit and the society, Flex and insurance amounts. Adding those again would overstate the cost. Totals: $31,407.55 for Engineering and $25,389.91 for Science. The Queen's tuition guide explains other faculties, while the residence guide covers room choices.

Western's Ontario Year 1 schedule lists $14,665.46 for Engineering and $8,222.46 for Science excluding Computer Science. We keep the listed health, dental, transit, orientation and faculty donation charges. The PDF says DRAFT: FEES MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. Our table carries that warning. The same PDF says a student attending Western for the first time pays a separate $50 ONECard fee. We add it once because it is outside those published program totals.

Both examples use a Medway-Sydenham double at $10,260 and Meal Plan 2 at $7,700. Room and food are separate here. The meal price includes $3,500 food credit, $4,050 overhead and $150 capital cost. The full $7,700 belongs in the budget, even though the spendable food credit is smaller. Western also marks housing rates subject to change or approval. Our totals are $32,675.46 for Engineering and $26,232.46 for Science. See the Western tuition guide and room guide for the wider choices.

York's detailed rates apply to new entrants on September 9, 2026 or later. Lassonde Engineering charges $325.44 tuition and $45.17 supplementary fees per credit. We multiply each by 36. The Faculty of Science row is $208.01 tuition and $43.95 supplementary fees per credit, multiplied by 30 for this example. York's recruitment page confirms the different engineering load; we use its load guidance rather than its rounded tuition estimate. We also add the $349.36 annual full-time York Federation of Students (YFS) health and dental fee.

The selected room is a Founders double at Keele: $9,072 for eight months, with dining required. The Entry plan is $6,450, including its $300 operation enhancement fee. We add the required $80 residence activity and administration charge. The $250 application payment gets a $150 move-in credit, leaving $100 of extra cost; the $750 room deposit is credited too. These sums give $29,393.32 for Engineering and $23,610.16 for Science. Use the York tuition guide and residence guide to check a different profile.

At Guelph, these students take at least 2.0 credits in each semester and pay the Ontario flat tuition. We choose non-co-op Biological Engineering in the College of Engineering and Biological Science in the College of Biological Science. The sums include Fall and Winter compulsory fees, the named college levies and the first-year Fall orientation fee. Engineering also keeps the Engineering Society and equipment-fund charges. We have not deducted a possible equipment refund or added a co-op, distance-education or work-experience charge.

Both rows use a Prairie Hall double in South Residence and the Minimum meal plan. The room page calls its Fall 2026 to Winter 2027 fees tentative. It also labels the winter instalment column Winter 2026. Guelph marks these fees tentative; we use its printed $9,092 annual room total. Meals cost $5,750 for the year. Two $28.84 Interhall Council charges are extra; insurance is already in the room fee. Totals are $28,323.79 for Engineering and $22,865.49 for Science. See Guelph tuition and residence for full details.

We choose Civil Engineering because its published first-year sequence has Fall and Winter study, followed by a Spring co-op term. We do not apply that sequence to every engineering stream. Each study term uses $7,124 tuition, $836 co-op fees and $1,069.62 full-time incidental fees. Our Honours Science example is regular, not co-op, with five half-unit courses each term. It uses $3,125 tuition per term, plus $874.59 Fall and $1,052.15 Winter incidental fees. We use the Science rows, not the Arts rows.

Both students choose a Village 1 double at $8,254 for eight months and Traditional B meals at $4,020 per term. The combined room and food amount is $16,294. We add the separate first-year Orientation charge once: $140.56 plus 13% Ontario harmonized sales tax (HST), or $158.83 rounded to cents. Waterloo allows an opt-out if you cannot attend; we assume neither student opts out. Totals are $34,512.07 for Civil Engineering and $24,629.57 for Honours Science. The Waterloo tuition guide and residence guide cover other paths.

A plan's purchase price and the balance you spend at a counter can differ. Western and Waterloo divide their selected plans into food funds and other costs. Guelph's Minimum plan also has fixed costs inside the annual charge. Queen's includes weekly meals in residence. Carleton's selected package includes All Access dining. These are different services. A lower meal-plan number does not prove that it covers the same eating pattern.

Choose a plan around your own week. Think about weekends away, food needs and where your classes will be. Guelph describes Minimum as suited to lighter appetites or students away most weekends. That is a useful limit on this particular example. Extra food purchases remain outside our total. Read the named plan before deciding whether the example fits you, and ask the school about any food needs that affect your choice.

A deposit can be part of a total while still being due earlier. Carleton's $700 advance and Queen's printed deposit are already inside the selected packages. York credits part of the application payment and the room deposit after move-in. Keep those payments on a cash calendar without adding them twice to the annual sum. Save the payment record so you can compare the credit with your later account statement.

Build a second list for confirmed funding. Keep a scholarship, bursary or aid assessment separate from the cost until you have read its terms and payment timing. Do not subtract hoped-for co-op earnings from a Fall bill. Our examples subtract no aid or earnings. For each school, use its financial-aid guide linked below and keep the application and housing tasks beside the Ontario deadline guide. That helps you see both how much you need and when you need it.

As of October 18, 2026, these universities hadn't posted final 2027-28 amounts for these profiles. We use the exact published 2026-27 figures rather than increasing them by an assumed percentage. Western's draft academic schedule and Guelph's tentative room schedule need a further check even within the published cycle. A cent-accurate sum does not make a tentative price final.

When the next schedules appear, replace each component from the same cycle. Check your program, fee category, credit load, room and meal choice. Add any course-specific charge shown on your own account. Then compare the new total with your funding and payment calendar. Keep the original example beside your update so you can explain what changed. The per-school tuition guides cover the broader fee and payment rules; these are worked first-year examples.