Paying for university: tuition by province, RESP withdrawals and OSAP for families

Tuition is the number families hear first, but it's rarely the biggest bill. Statistics Canada's averages cover tuition only. They leave out compulsory student fees, residence, meal plans, books, a laptop and travel home.

The averages are weighted by enrolment, so a province with many expensive programs looks dearer. Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador also charge students from outside the province more, and the averages blend those rates in. Use the table to compare provinces, then price your student's actual program on the university's fee page.

For Ontario, the preliminary 2026-27 average for Canadian undergraduates is $9,306, up from $8,986 the year before. International undergraduates in Ontario average $50,088. Living in residence can cost as much as tuition again. Our residence guide compares room and meal-plan prices.

An RESP pays out in two different ways, and the difference matters at tax time. The money you put in comes back as a refund of contributions. It isn't taxed, and the plan can pay it to you or to your student.

Everything else comes out as an educational assistance payment, or EAP. That's the Canada Education Savings Grant, any Canada Learning Bond, provincial grants and the investment growth. The promoter reports each EAP on a T4A slip, and your student reports it as income. It's taxed at your student's rate, not yours.

There's a cap at the start. In the first 13 consecutive weeks of a full-time program, EAPs can't go over $8,000. After that there's no limit while your student stays enrolled. For part-time study the cap is $4,000 for each 13-week period. Your student must be a resident of Canada to receive the grant or bond portion of an EAP.

A gap year doesn't end the plan. Grant money stays in the RESP and can be used later, as long as the plan is still open. Contributions earn grant only until the end of the calendar year your child turns 17, so the grant stops growing even if the savings don't.

If your child never goes on to post-secondary, the growth can come out as an accumulated income payment to you. That's taxed as your income, plus an extra 20% tax (12% in Quebec). You can move up to $50,000 of that income into your RRSP over your lifetime to avoid the extra tax, if you have room and meet CRA's conditions. Grants and bonds go back to the government.

OSAP is Ontario's student aid program. It offers grants, which don't need to be paid back, and loans, which do. When your student applies, OSAP considers them for both, and they can decline the loan after approval. It's open to Ontario residents who are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons. International students can't get OSAP.

Most students heading straight from high school apply as dependent students. For the federal part of the calculation, that means a single student who left high school less than 4 years before their studies start and hasn't worked full-time for 24 months in a row. For the provincial part, the window is 6 years. A dependent student's application asks for each parent's social insurance number and tax information.

OSAP says it supplements a family's resources rather than replacing them. For 2026-27 the student's own expected contribution is $3,600, and a contribution may also be expected from parents depending on their income. Some students have their contribution waived, for example students with children or students who self-identify as Indigenous.

For programs starting on or after August 1, 2026, Ontario moved more of its provincial funding from grants to loans. Students at publicly assisted colleges and universities get a larger share as loans, and students at career colleges get all of it as loans.

OSAP includes federal money too. The Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students pays up to $4,200 a year, or $525 a month of study, until the end of the 2026-27 school year. It depends on gross family income and family size. For a family of four, the full grant goes to families under $76,952, and the grant stops at $129,769. Your student doesn't apply separately. It comes through the provincial application.

Loans have two parts with different rules. Since April 1, 2023, Canada hasn't charged interest on the federal portion. The Ontario portion charges prime plus 1%. Repayment starts after a six-month grace period once your student graduates or leaves full-time study, and Ontario interest builds during that grace period.

Start with the real bill, not the average. Price tuition, fees and housing at two or three schools your student is seriously considering. Then line up the money: RESP, OSAP estimate, entrance scholarships, summer earnings and what you can pay from income.

Some entrance scholarships come with the offer and others need a separate application. Use the scholarship finder to see awards your student can apply for, and our scholarship application guide for the steps. The OSAP guide walks through the application screen by screen.

Talk about money with your student before offers arrive. A school that costs $15,000 more a year is a real trade-off. It's easier to weigh in March than in late May, when the June 1 reply date is close. The offers guide explains deposits and reply dates.