2.C Settlement and Integration
C.6 How is education treated?
(vii) Who covers tuition and other education expenses?
How Canada Does It
Primary and secondary education is publicly funded by Canadian provinces and refugees can access schooling free of cost. Private sponsors are expected to cover initial school start-up costs. Post-secondary students, including refugees, must pay tuition and other school expenses, though as permanent residents they are eligible for provincial financial assistance through loans, grants, bursaries, and scholarships.
Primary and secondary education is publicly funded by Canadian provinces and refugees can access schooling free of cost. Private sponsors are expected to cover initial school start-up costs, including school supplies such as books, stationary, utensils, school uniforms (if applicable), etc.
Post-secondary students, including refugees, must pay tuition and other school expenses. Refugees do not need to pay international student fees. As permanent residents, they are eligible for provincial student loans, grants, bursaries, and scholarships. Most universities and colleges offer bursaries and scholarships to qualifying refugee students. For example, in 2015 the National Association of Career Colleges offered $2 million worth of scholarships to cover the tuition of 200 Syrian refugees.
Numerous organizations and businesses also fund scholarships for refugees. World University Services of Canada is another organization that mobilizes student bodies across the country to pay small levies towards sponsoring and paying the educational costs of qualifying post-secondary refugee students.