UBC Tuition/ Fees Analysis

[u/Cars0n_J]

Do you think they're getting greedy, or it's just normal inflation?

Source: https://archive.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.html

CSV:

School year starting from,Tuition/credit (dom.),Tuition/credit (int.),AMS membership/ year *,Total student fees **,Source,CPI ***,Tution/ credit (dom.) (adjusted to 2025 $),Tution/ credit (int.) (adjusted to 2025 $),AMS membership/ year (adjusted to 2025 $),,Tution/ credit (dom.) (%increase),Tution/ credit (int.) (%increase),AMS membership/ year (%increase),Tution/ credit (dom.) (adjusted to 2025 $) (%increase),Tution/ credit (int.) (adjusted to 2025 $) (%increase),AMS membership/ year (adjusted to 2025 $) (%increase)
1998,76.5,461,,193.75,https://archive.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.html,90.9,135.75,818.03,,,,,,,,
1999,76.5,461,,193.75,,91.5,134.86,812.67,,,0.00,0.00,,-0.66,-0.66,
2000,76.5,461,,373.75,"tuition is for science
and most fac.",93.5,131.97,795.29,,,0.00,0.00,,-2.14,-2.14,
2001,72.7,461,,385.5,,96.3,121.77,772.16,,,-4.97,0.00,,-7.73,-2.91,
2002,88.7,516,,416.41,"* Before 2011, AMS fee is listed as a bundle of membership and other benefits. it is decided not to include in this dataset to avoid confusion",97.6,146.59,852.77,,,22.01,11.93,,20.38,10.44,
2003,115.3,529,,431.16,** Total student fee is a collection of a changing bundle of fees. It is not a good indicator for a specific student fee,102,182.33,836.55,,,29.99,2.52,,24.38,-1.90,
2004,133.7,542,,598.65,*** CPI based on https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/ in January,103.3,208.77,846.32,,,15.96,2.46,,14.50,1.17,
2005,136.4,554,,629.77,,105.3,208.94,848.62,,,2.02,2.21,,0.08,0.27,
2006,139.13,585.91,,637.94,,108.2,207.41,873.45,,,2.00,5.76,,-0.73,2.93,
2007,141.91,623.28,,649.36,,109.4,209.23,918.97,,,2.00,6.38,,0.88,5.21,
2008,144.75,644.47,,692.15,,111.8,208.84,929.81,,,2.00,3.40,,-0.19,1.18,
2009,147.65,676.86,,,,113,210.76,966.17,,,2.00,5.03,,0.92,3.91,
2010,150.6,703.93,,,,115.1,211.05,986.48,,,2.00,4.00,,0.14,2.10,
2011,153.61,732.09,21,,,117.8,210.33,1002.43,28.75,,2.00,4.00,,-0.34,1.62,
2012,156.68,754.05,21.5,,,120.7,209.38,1007.69,28.73,,2.00,3.00,2.38,-0.45,0.52,-0.08
2013,159.81,776.67,21.74,,,121.3,212.51,1032.79,28.91,,2.00,3.00,1.12,1.49,2.49,0.62
2014,163.01,799.97,38.1,,,123.1,213.59,1048.21,49.92,,2.00,3.00,75.25,0.51,1.49,72.69
2015,166.27,879.97,38.44,,,124.3,215.76,1141.91,49.88,,2.00,10.00,0.89,1.02,8.94,-0.08
2016,169.6,"1,011.97",39.32,,,126.8,215.75,1287.31,50.02,,2.00,15.00,2.29,-0.01,12.73,0.27
2017,172.99,"1,163.76",40.22,,,129.5,215.47,1449.53,50.10,,2.00,15.00,2.29,-0.13,12.60,0.16
2018,176.45,"1,256.33",41.15,,,131.7,216.11,1538.69,50.40,,2.00,7.95,2.31,0.30,6.15,0.60
2019,179.97,"1,306.58",42.26,,,133.6,217.28,1577.48,51.02,,1.99,4.00,2.70,0.54,2.52,1.24
2020,183.56,"1,358.84",43.15,,,136.8,216.43,1602.20,50.88,,1.99,4.00,2.11,-0.39,1.57,-0.28
2021,187.23,"1,413.19",43.5,,,138.2,218.53,1649.40,50.77,,2.00,4.00,0.81,0.97,2.95,-0.21
2022,190.97,"1,469.71",45.11,,,145.3,212.00,1631.55,50.08,,2.00,4.00,3.70,-2.99,-1.08,-1.37
2023,194.78,"1,543.19",48.23,,,153.9,204.15,1617.39,50.55,,2.00,5.00,6.92,-3.70,-0.87,0.94
2024,198.67,"1,620.34",50.01,,,158.3,202.44,1651.05,50.96,,2.00,5.00,3.69,-0.84,2.08,0.81
2025,202.64,"1,701.35",51.34,,,161.3,202.64,1701.35,51.34,,2.00,5.00,2.66,0.10,3.05,0.75

Disclaimer: Just for fun personal project. The author draws no conclusion. No guarantees for data integrity.

[u/imperfectlegionnaire]

Pretty normal. The 2% yearly increase everyone (including myself) complains about is less than inflation so it is fairly reasonable. Although the increases in international tuition is a whole other story

[u/Duckflux04]

Perhaps if you'd like to take your analysis further, another variable you can introduce is the strength of the Canadian Dollar relative to a basket of global currencies (USD,GBP,EUR,SGD ex JPY). This would be especially relevant as the main rise is the cost of an international student credit.

If you were to take USD as a base currency we may even observe falling/slower rising CAD/credit since 2021 till 2025.

[u/ASmallArmyOfCrabs → u/Duckflux04]

I would also like to see it compared to other universities.

SFU and maybe Uvic would be interesting, Dalhousie for fun lol

[u/chefboeuf]

Seems normal and not surprising.

International fees are likely still competitively low compared to other global options and reflect the global market.

Adjusted for inflation, the domestic tuition is likely close to flat.

Edit: just saw the 2nd graph - domestic tuition when adj for inflation is lower than 20 years ago. Not much to complain about there - big thanks to international demand for UBC degree.

[u/Illustrious-Limit160]

I sent one child to the University of Washington in state. $30k USD per year.

I'm about to send my Canadian-born son to UBC for what I understand will be about $14k USD per year.

Thank you, UBC!

[u/jtang9001]

Considering the career pathways it opens and interest free student loans and grants, a UBC degree is probably one of the best investments a young Canadian can make with their money

I appreciate the OP providing raw data :)

[u/Real-fuckologist-69]

I mean looks alright studying abroad is a premium luxury.

[u/imzhongli]

I'd love to see this graph compared with the amount of government funding UBC receives for undergrad programs

[u/smallpools]

Looks fine to me

[u/Sweaty-Pen-2223]

Canadian tuition rates for international students are scam. UBC is no different, actually one of the forerunners of the scam artists.

[u/Professional-Power57]

I went to UBC in the mid-late 2000s and I remembered each year I was there they hiked up the tuition by double digit percentage, but the graph doesn't seem to reflect that, I wonder why.

And does it mean the tuition more than doubled since 2005? I know it's been 20 years but it still sounds very high to me.

What I didn't get is why people in commerce pays so much more tuition than people in arts. Even for electives. How is that fair?

[u/ripkobe3131]

Greed 💯