Price tag for local and out-of-town students attending UNBC unveiled by Macleans

The new school year is fast approaching for university students at UNBC and the venture into post-secondary school can be quite expensive.

According to Macleans Magazine, the average price tag for students studying at home is around $8,900.

The costs sky-rocket for students who are moving away from home to study at UNBC, shell out $18,600.

VP of Finance and Administration, Robert Knight says the additional costs for out-of-town students is not affecting their decision to come up north.

“Eighteen percent of our students come from what is called southern BC and I think that is a sign our programs are attractive and that students are willing to travel here to live away from home in order to attend UNBC.”

“Students aren’t necessarily choosing to come here based on price alone, they look at the unique programs that we have to offer and they really like the idea of this great location and what most people would describe as spectacular scenery here in Northern British Columbia.”

Knight also broke down some of the student demographics, which may help explain the cost difference.

“Six out of seven of our students are from northern BC or the Lower Mainland and only about 15% or so come from other provinces or internationally so if you look at their travel costs that might explain part of it.”

“The actual cost of tuition in places like Quebec is so much lower because of the public subsidy for higher education is quite a bit higher in that province, so the difference might explain where you’re travelling from.”

UNBC is actually the cheapest option for students leaving home to pursue their studies in the province as Simon Fraser, University of Victoria and UBC are more expensive ranging from $19,000 to $22,000.

The university is also sandwiched in between UVIC ($8,870), UBC ($8,752), Simon Fraser ($8,962), and the University of Lethbridge ($8,856) in the lower-third of costs for local students.

Due to the public subsidy for post-secondary school in Quebec, Bishops University and the University of Sherbrooke remain the lowest in all of Canada for both categories.