How to afford studying in Canada?
Ana Mrtnz (she/her) // Contributor
Cameron Skorulski (he/him) // Illustrator
Hello Cap Courier! I am currently studying kinesiology as an international student, and the tuition fees are excessively high for foreign students like me. My family is making a significant effort to pay for my tuition, but it’s challenging to cover the costs for the approximately four years required to complete the degree. I work and study, but with the expenses for food, transportation, and rent, it seems impossible for me to contribute to my school fees as well. Vancouver is a city where paying rent monthly feels like a luxury. I want to continue my studies, but the only way to do so is if I can pay local tuition rates, meaning I need to obtain PR (Permanent Residency). I am just months away from finishing my diploma, but I will have to abandon the bachelor due to the cost. I am unsure what would be the best course of action; the school doesn’t offer loans to international students, and although I have applied for scholarships, I haven’t had the opportunity to receive one.
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Hi Ana,
From what I know, your best bet might be looking into private loans from alternative loan providers. However, you need to be incredibly careful as with these you risk falling into illegitimate business dealings very quickly. They require a ton of research and aren’t the safest bet but if you’ve exacerbated all other options, it’s worth a look at least. (I’m not an expert on loans by any means and I do not want to claim to be. Definitely speak with financial aid about this before taking any major steps.) Though there are some small things I can recommend to try and ease the financial burden that is living in Vancouver.
Specifically through the CSU, we have a bunch of food options like our Community Cupboard, Food Hampers program and much more. The Capilano Student Union website has all of the information on those options, in detail. There’s also apps like Deals and UNiDAYS (the latter is mostly online shopping but still) which provide lots of student discounts for a wide variety of things.
I totally understand the stress and I wish I could help more. I sincerely wish you the best of luck and hope that this helped at least a little bit.
Thanks for writing to us!