BCIT Fees for International Students: A Nepali Guide

What BCIT actually charges international students

BCIT's international tuition is published as ~$19,000+/yr, rising to ~$51k depending on the programme you pick. That is a wide band, and the single most common mistake Nepali applicants make is budgeting on the bottom of it and then discovering their programme sits near the top.

BCIT is in Burnaby, British Columbia, and it is classified as an institute rather than a university — it runs applied, industry-linked programmes. Your fee is set by the programme, not by the institution, so "BCIT fees" is never one number. Before you plan anything, open your specific programme page on bcit.ca/admission/international and confirm the figure for your intake year.

BCIT tuition compared with other BC institutions

If BCIT quotes you a figure near the top of its range, it is worth checking what the same money buys elsewhere in British Columbia. These are the published international tuition figures we hold:

Outside BC, the closest comparison to BCIT in style is the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary, published at ~$13,400–20,000/yr.

Two catches worth knowing. First, computing and engineering programmes are billed higher at several of these institutions — SFU and UBC both flag it — so a general "arts-level" fee you saw on a forum will not apply to you. Second, a lower tuition figure in a small city can be cancelled out by flights and by a thinner part-time job market. Run both sides of the comparison, not just tuition. Our free Master Reckoner matches courses to costs, entry requirements and English scores in one place, which saves opening thirty tabs.

Living costs in Burnaby and Metro Vancouver

Burnaby is not a cheap city. It is, however, published slightly below Vancouver:

Read the Burnaby figure of $3,200 per month as a living cost, sitting on top of tuition, not inside it. Do that sum yourself with your own programme's fee — do not assume any agent's "all-in package" figure covers both.

The practical warning: students who arrive in Metro Vancouver without accommodation confirmed often spend their first weeks in short-term rooms at rates far above what they budgeted, and that damage lands in the first term when they can least afford it. Sort housing before you fly.

Proof of funds for a Canadian study permit

Separate from tuition and separate from living costs, you must show funds evidence for the study permit. These are the figures we hold, by family size:

Note what this figure is and is not. It is a minimum threshold, not a target to aim at, and it does not include your tuition. A Nepali file that shows exactly the minimum and nothing more reads as a file assembled for the application rather than a family that can genuinely fund the study. In our experience the refusals cluster around funds that appeared in an account recently with no explanation of source, property sales that cannot be traced to the depositor, and loan sanction letters that do not match the sponsor named in the affidavit. Show history, show source, show the relationship. Confirm current requirements on official Government of Canada channels before you submit — these figures change, and only the official page governs.

English requirements at BCIT

BCIT publishes IELTS 6.0+ (many 6.5) · TOEFL 82+ · PTE 52+ · Duolingo 105+.

That bracket is the catch, and it is the one that costs Nepali students a full intake. The headline is 6.0+, but many BCIT programmes ask 6.5 — and the programmes that Nepali applicants most often want are usually the competitive ones. If you book your test aiming at 6.0 and your programme wants 6.5, you do not get a second sitting before the intake closes. Aim at the higher number.

Also check whether your programme states a per-band minimum. Several BC institutions do — Selkirk requires no band below 6.0, and Acsenda in Vancouver requires no band below 6.0. An overall score that hides a 5.5 in writing gets rejected at the document check, not at the interview.

For comparison, here is what the other Burnaby and Vancouver institutions publish:

How to budget this properly

Build your plan as three separate lines and keep them separate on paper:

1. Tuition — your specific BCIT programme fee, taken from the programme page, for the year you will actually start.
2. Living costs — Burnaby is published at $3,200 per month. Multiply by the months you will be there, using your own calculator.
3. Funds evidence — the figure for your family size from the table above, held and documented properly.

Then add the items nobody quotes you: application fees, the flight, medicals, biometrics, insurance, a laptop, and a winter jacket. Keep a buffer. A student who runs out of money in term two is in a far worse position than one who deferred by a semester and arrived properly funded.

We do not hold any scholarship figures for BCIT, so do not plan on one. If you find an award on the official site, treat it as a bonus after your budget already works without it.

More on costs, permits and city-by-city comparisons is on our Canada hub, and the full set of guides is on the blog.

Common questions

How much does BCIT cost per year for a Nepali student?

Published international tuition at BCIT is ~$19,000+/yr, rising to ~$51k, depending entirely on which programme you are admitted to. Living costs in Burnaby are published separately at $3,200 per month. Add the two yourself using your own programme's exact fee — never use a single "package" figure quoted by a third party.

Is BCIT cheaper than SFU or UBC?

At the bottom of its range, yes — BCIT starts at ~$19,000+/yr, while SFU is published at ~$37k+/yr and UBC at ~$51k/yr for computing. But BCIT's range reaches ~$51k for some programmes, so a specific BCIT programme can cost as much as a university. Compare programme to programme, not institution to institution.

What IELTS score do I need for BCIT?

BCIT publishes IELTS 6.0+, with many programmes requiring 6.5. TOEFL 82+, PTE 52+ and Duolingo 105+ are also listed. Check your exact programme page, and check whether there is a minimum for each individual band, not just the overall score.

How much money do I need to show for the study permit?

For a single applicant, the funds figure we hold is CAD 23,448, with CAD 6,318 for each additional family member beyond the listed sizes. This is separate from tuition. Show where the money came from and how long it has been there — unexplained recent deposits are a common reason Nepali files are refused.