University of New Brunswick Fees for International Students

The short answer

The University of New Brunswick does not publish a single flat international tuition figure that applies to every programme, so the fee you pay depends on the faculty and campus you are admitted to — you must read it off UNB's own admissions pages at unb.ca/admissions before you budget. What we can give you here, with confirmed numbers, is the other half of the cost picture: Fredericton living costs, the proof-of-funds figures your study permit application is measured against, and the English scores UNB asks for.

That distinction matters. A counsellor who quotes you a tuition number from memory is guessing, and when the number on your offer letter is different, your funds plan collapses at the worst possible moment. Take the tuition figure from the offer letter or the official fee page, then add the living cost figures below.

What UNB's own pages must tell you

UNB has campuses in Fredericton and Saint John. Before you commit to an application fee, confirm four things on unb.ca/admissions:

• The international tuition rate for your specific programme and level (undergraduate and postgraduate rates differ, and professional faculties are usually charged separately).
• Whether the rate is quoted per year or per credit hour. This is the single most common misreading. A per-credit-hour rate has to be matched to the number of credit hours in your year before it means anything.
• Compulsory student fees, which sit on top of tuition and are billed to everyone.
• Health insurance, which international students in Canada are normally charged for unless they can show equivalent cover.

Write each of those down as a separate line in your budget. Do not fold them into one number in your head.

Living costs: Fredericton compared with the big cities

Fredericton is one of the cheaper university towns in Canada, and for a Nepali family funding a degree from savings and remittance income that is the real argument for UNB. Here are the monthly living cost figures we hold for Canadian student cities:

Fredericton sits at CAD 2,200 per month. Toronto and Vancouver sit at CAD 3,500 per month. Put those two figures beside each other for three or four years of study and you can see why students who chose UNB over a Toronto college often finish with less debt, even where tuition is comparable.

What the monthly figure does and does not cover

Treat CAD 2,200 per month as ordinary living: rent, food, transport, phone, basic personal spending. It does not include your tuition. It does not include the flight from Kathmandu, the study permit application, biometrics, or the winter clothing you will buy in your first fortnight in New Brunswick. Budget those separately, as one-off items, in the first-year column of your plan.

Proof of funds for the study permit

Separate from what UNB charges, your study permit application is assessed against a settlement funds figure that depends on how many people are travelling with you. These are the figures that apply outside Quebec:

There is a related multiplier used when sizing a household budget: 1 for a single person, 1.55 for two, 1.85 for three, 2.15 for four. Use it to think about how much more a family of three needs than a single student — but the number that is actually checked against your bank statements is the funds figure in the table, plus your tuition, not a multiplier you calculated yourself.

The catch nobody explains

The published funds figure is the floor, not the target. What gets refused is rarely a shortfall against the table — it is money that appeared last month with no explanation. Officers look at how long the funds have been held, whose account they sit in, and whether the income that produced them is documented. Land sale proceeds, a loan sanction letter, a sponsor's business income: all of these can work, and all of them need paperwork showing where the money came from.

Two more habits that cause trouble for Nepali applicants:

• Counting the same money twice. If your brother's savings are supporting his own application as well as yours, that is one pot of money, not two.
• Forgetting tuition. The funds figure is for living costs and settlement. Tuition sits on top, and your offer letter is what proves the amount.

Our free Master Reckoner tool will line up the course, the entry requirements, the English score and the cost side by side, so you can see the whole picture before you pay an application fee.

English requirements at UNB

Confirm on unb.ca/admissions whether your programme also sets a minimum in each band or section. Many Nepali applicants hit the overall requirement with a weak Writing band and then find the department applies a sub-score rule the general admissions page did not spell out. Check before you book the test, not after.

If your first attempt lands short, retaking is usually faster and cheaper than enrolling in a pathway programme — and we cannot tell you that UNB offers a pathway or conditional English admission to Nepali students, because that is not something our data confirms. Ask UNB directly.

Building a UNB budget that survives scrutiny

Lay it out as four separate lines and keep them separate:

1. Tuition — from your UNB offer letter or the official fee page.
2. Compulsory fees and health insurance — from the same source.
3. Living costs — CAD 2,200 per month for Fredericton.
4. Proof of funds — CAD 23,448 for a single applicant, or the figure for your family size from the table above.

Keep the four lines visible in your own spreadsheet rather than collapsing them into one total you cannot explain. When a visa officer, a bank or a parent asks "what is this number made of", you want to be able to answer in ten seconds.

For how UNB sits against other Canadian options, see our Canada destination hub, and for application timing and document guides, see the full guide library.

Common questions

How much is UNB tuition for Nepali students?

We do not publish a tuition figure for UNB here, because the rate varies by programme and campus and we will not quote one we cannot verify for your course. Read it off unb.ca/admissions or off your offer letter, and check whether it is stated per year or per credit hour. If a consultancy gives you a confident single number without naming the programme, ask them to show you the page it came from.

Is Fredericton cheaper than Toronto for a Nepali student?

On the living cost figures we hold, yes: Fredericton is CAD 2,200 per month and Toronto is CAD 3,500 per month. Rent is the main driver of that difference. Tuition is a separate question and depends entirely on the institution and programme you compare.

How much money do I need in the bank for a Canadian study permit?

For a single applicant outside Quebec the funds figure is CAD 23,448, rising with family size — CAD 29,192 for two people, CAD 35,888 for three, and CAD 6,318 for each person beyond seven. Tuition is required on top of that figure, not included in it. The history of the money matters as much as the balance.

What IELTS score does UNB ask for?

UNB's requirement is IELTS 6.5, with TOEFL 85 and Duolingo 115 as alternatives. Confirm on the admissions page whether your specific programme sets individual band minimums, because some departments do even when the general page does not mention it.

Official sources

• University of New Brunswick admissions: https://www.unb.ca/admissions/