Tuition fees - International students

Bachelor’s and Master’s students

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 more about the Differential Tuition Fee Exemption Scholarship for international students studying in French.

Admissions prior to May 2023

• 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 will be equivalent to those for Canadian students residing outside Ontario for a maximum period of five years.  
• PhD students who began their studies before September 2021 (differential tuition exemption): If you began your studies at uOttawa before September 2021 and you’ve received a differential tuition exemption, your tuition fees will be equivalent to those for Canadian students residing outside Ontario for the remainder of your studies, provided you’re enrolled full-time. 

The following tables shows tuition fees for 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 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 non-degree student. Learn about tuition fees for non-degree students.

Note: The table below is not designed to estimate your fees for a future year.

To understand the information in the table and the principle of progress in your program, including how fees change based on your progress, and to estimate your university fees for a year or several terms, see our familiarize yourself with university fees page.

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.

Please note: The changes in May 2023 have required adjustments to the way tuition fees for doctoral programs are published. Fees for 2023–2024 graduate PhD tuition per term (full time) in the search table show the amounts without a scholarship. In previous years (2021–2022 and 2022–2023), the amount included a fee reduction.  

Executive Master of Business (EMBA) students: Learn more about tuition fees for EMBA students.

A research fee is a tuition fee paid by students admitted to a graduate program part-time or 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. Fees are determined based on your status in Canada.

You can’t enrol in courses if you enrol part-time to research activities.

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.

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.

Please note: The changes in May 2023 have required adjustments to the way tuition fees for doctoral programs are published. Fees for 2023–2024 graduate PhD tuition per term (full time) in the search table show the amounts without a scholarship. In previous years (2021–2022 and 2022–2023), the amount included a fee reduction.  

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: 

• For international students admitted for the Spring-Summer 2022 term or earlier, future tuition fee increases will be limited to 5.5% per year.
• For international students admitted for the Fall 2022 term or later, future tuition fee increases will be limited to 7% per year.

In both cases, students must 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. 

See below for an example on how we apply fee increases for a future year

The Ontario government regulates Canadian students’ tuition fees for universities in the province. Its framework sets out the maximum increases allowed and the rules for applying them. Fees for international students are unregulated. 

Changes for 2024-2025

Hypothetical increase of 10% for new first year students and 5% for students continuing their studies after first year

In this example, starting with 33.01 units, tuition fees associated with each level of progress in your program of study are calculated based on the progress level for the previous year (B2 is based on A1 for the previous year, C2 on B1, etc.). 

Note: For more on the impact of your progress in your program, see “Factors affecting tuition fees” on the Familiarize yourself with university fees page.