Why is my tuition so expensive

I'm in an Engineering faculty, my tuition is 9k alone...my friend's tuition in Life Science is a joke...4.5k. I know it's de-regulated, but may I ask why? What's the reason behind this? Does the government want less Engineers? I don't we get that much access to labs than my friend in Life Science, I think he gets much more probably.

Not sure, I have the same tuition going into next year as an ECE frosh... It was $600 less last year

But then again, IIRC, engineers make the most money out of any undergrad program right after you graduate.

Does it have to do with supply and demand? Not sure...

Are you on your school term right now? If you are, then you won't have time to worry about stuff like that. It's probably got to do with supply and demand, university is a business after all.

Originally Posted by skuric

Not sure, I have the same tuition going into next year as an ECE frosh... It was $600 less last year

But then again, IIRC, engineers make the most money out of any undergrad program right after you graduate.

That's a moot point. Anyone can make alot of money out of any undergrad program. Business students should pay even more, they have a much greater earning potential.


What also pisses me off, is why do they have to make tuition so expensive for first year Engineers if they know that alot of them will fail. A, you failed; B, you owe us 15k.

$9123.66 for all 2007 first year engineering programs at UofT, including tuition and all student society/ancillary fees. Yeah, ouch.

Afterall, University isn't meant for everyone

Originally Posted by kt11

That's a moot point. Anyone can make alot of money out of any undergrad program. Business students should pay even more, they have a much greater earning potential.


What also pisses me off, is why do they have to make tuition so expensive for first year Engineers if they know that alot of them will fail. A, you failed; B, you owe us 15k.

True, but on average, the annual earning salary for an engineer right out of uni is somewhere around ~$40-50K (I think Chems and ECES are right up there in front of other eng disciplines), there was a chart a while ago about this.

But yeah, I got a $9123.xx tuition too It's funny because the actual program tuition is about $8K.

Edit: k11 and tritium4ever, are you guys going into 1st year at UofT?

Different department. All students from the faculty of Arts and Science (everyone but engineers) pay 4.5K first year. Commerce students since they have to qualify to get into the program by meeting course requirements pay 4.5K first year and then have it jump to 10K the year after and 12K the year after that and so on. Luckily I've got tuition waiver. Yay.

Engineering will get you a job.

Taking Life Sciences won't get you a job - Everyone I know who took Life Sciences eventually ended up working in an unrelated field or were forced to pursue a higher level of education (Masters or some medical program).

Tuition for all engineering programs are massively high. A friend of mine at the UofT has the same problem, his tuition is like $10k a year.

I paid about $5k a year when I was in university. College these days is about $3k. I hope I get to go to college before it costs as much as university did!

Originally Posted by dmdsoftware2

Engineering will get you a job.

Taking Life Sciences won't get you a job - Everyone I know who took Life Sciences eventually ended up working in an unrelated field or were forced to pursue a higher level of education (Masters or some medical program).

It can only get you a job if you want to work in a laboratory. Which pays well, but is boring as heck.

I'm going back to college to supplement by BSc with Pharmacy Tech...

Originally Posted by skuric

True, but on average, the annual earning salary for an engineer right out of uni is somewhere around ~$40-50K (I think Chems and ECES are right up there in front of other eng disciplines), there was a chart a while ago about this.

But yeah, I got a $9123.xx tuition too It's funny because the actual program tuition is about $8K.

Edit: k11 and tritium4ever, are you guys going into 1st year at UofT?

that's what sucks you in. let me tell you from experience, don't choose engineering for the money, you'll be miserable.

you gotta really like engineering to make it through, otherwise when you're done you'll be wondering why you spent all that time to be someone else's b*tch. non-unionized, under-appreciated, stuck in consulting firms until you make it and land a real career-forwarding job.

plus it's just way too hard for all that grief. i assume you're going to waterloo or u of t. it's basically your life 24/7 to be an engineering student. i'm not sure it's all that impressive either if you don't get excellent grades. the main advantage you have is that you'll finish school debt free.

that's enough of the rant.

If you think about it that way... Arts students pay as much as Life Science students, and for what? Arts students don't have any labs. They only get tutorials and lectures, like everyone else. They are essentially paying 4.5k to have people talk to them, and grade their work. By your logic, Arts students are getting the least value for their money.

Yet, as an ex-Arts student and a soon-to-be law student, I'm not complaining. A university education costs big money; that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

You will not get parity in tuition cost because the market believes a university education (in whatever specialization you are in) costs/is worth whatever it is you pay per year.

I'm now paying 12k a year in tuition for law school. I still won't be getting any labs.

my engineering tuition is $3.4k a semester, but alas that is (i think) the highest tuition cost in my university.

maybe it's because engineering is a pretty specialized field.