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Tuition Setting

Tuition plays an essential role in maintaining the quality of educational excellence and the overall student experience. At SFU, most of our funding for university operations comes from two main sources: the provincial government grant and student tuition. 

Informing next year’s budget: Consultation with Students on Tuition

Every year, as part of the university’s budget planning process, SFU reviews its current budget to ensure we can deliver an excellent teaching and learning experience. Rising costs and limited government funding mean we need to make careful choices. 

We believe students should have a voice in these decisions. SFU also consults with SFSS and GSS to hear their perspectives as representatives and advocates for the undergraduate and graduate student experience. 

The Offices of the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President Students and the Vice-Provost and Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies leads annual consultations with both undergraduate and graduate students regarding tuition fees. This process has included gathering student feedback, analyzing sentiments towards changes in tuition fees, and considering various factors that impact the university’s financial health and its ability to meet enrollment targets.

As per SFU’s Consultation with Students on Tuition Fees (policy B10.15), SFSS and GSS are also provided an opportunity to provide written feedback to the university regarding any proposed changes to tuition and student fees. 

About the Tuition Consultation survey

We recognize that tuition increases can affect students in different ways. To help inform the budget for the upcoming year, a survey is sent to undergraduate and graduate students each fall to gather input that helps administrators understand the impact(s) of potential changes to tuition and ensure we’re focusing on the supports and services that you value most throughout your education at SFU.

About the 2025 survey

  • Launched on September 10 and closed September 26, 2025
  • Sent to all undergraduate and graduate students. 
  • Respondents were entered into a draw and unique survey links were emailed to students on September 10, 2025, with weekly reminders via direct email, social media, and newsletters until the survey closed on September 26, 2025.
  • Responses which contained violence, inappropriate language, or similar types of inappropriate responses were removed from the dataset.
  • This data will be used to inform budget decisions on potential changes to tuition for undergraduate, graduate and international students, and investments in supports and services for students. 

Response rate

  • Highest number of responses in recent years (4,710)
    • 3,921 undergraduate students (83% of total survey responses, approx. 13% of current undergraduate students) 
    • 789 graduate students (17% of total survey responses, approx. 20% of current graduate students) 
  • Residency
    • Domestic: 83% undergraduate, 63% graduate
    • International: 17% undergraduate, 38% graduate

Response Highlights

From the 2025 survey, undergraduate students identified the following supports and services as their top priorities:

  1. Academic excellence (same as 2024)
  2. Transportation/access getting to and from campus (ranked 3rd in 2024) 
  3. Career exploration and preparation (ranked 4th in 2024)
  4. SFU financial support (ranked 2nd in 2024) 
  5. Academic support (same as 2024)

Graduate students identified the following as their top priorities:

  1. SFU financial support (same as 2024)
  2. Academic excellence (same as 2024)
  3. Career exploration and preparation (ranked 4th in 2024) 
  4. Academic support (ranked 5th in 2024) 
  5. Transportation/access getting to and from campus (ranked 3rd in 2024) 

The results of the 2025 survey have validated what we have learned in previous years about student sentiment and priorities. The main priorities remain to be academic excellence and SFU financial support. These have consistently been the top priorities for students based on the three years of survey data regardless of the breakdown by domestic and international, and undergraduate and graduate students. 

Across undergraduate and graduate respondents, fewer students have prioritized residence and housing fees. This may be a result of SFU’s efforts to keep rental increases below comparable market rates across the Lower Mainland where possible. In addition, fewer students prioritized SFU food quality, which may reflect that options have improved across campuses. 

Proposed tuition fees increases for 2026-27

SFU remains committed to delivering an excellent teaching and learning experience. As the costs of operating the university increase, we have worked hard to find savings in other areas to minimize the impact on students, as well as to continue to invest in areas that improve the student experience. 

Priority investments for the coming year include: 

  • continued funding for student supports, academic programs, housing, efficiencies through technology, capital renewal and research initiatives. 
  • strengthening faculties and programs that are top-ranked and generate revenues, while also supporting key programs across all faculties.
  • continued investments in essential services for the operations of the university, which include technology, data, systems and facilities that support learning and research and improve the SFU experience for all. 

See below for the proposed tuition fee increase for 2026-27:

Undergraduate domestic tuition

  • Increase by 2% for new and returning students in alignment with the BC Government’s Tuition Limit Policy.

Undergraduate international tuition

  • Increase by 4% for new and returning students

Graduate Regular Program tuition

  • Increase by 2% for new and returning students in alignment with the BC Government’s Tuition Limit Policy as domestic and international student tuition is the same rate.

Graduate Specialty Program tuition (where differential international fees may apply)

  • Increase by 2% for new and returning domestic students in alignment with the BC Government’s Tuition Limit Policy.
  • Increase by up to 6% for new and returning international students, where existing international differentials apply.
  • No increase for new and returning domestic and international graduate students registered in tech seats supported by government grants (i.e. Big Data, Cybersecurity and Visual Computing)

We know that cost increases of any kind can be challenging. Our commitment is to keep changes that affect the academic experience as small as possible while maintaining key operations and infrastructure and continuing to invest in student supports, housing and academic programs.

Next steps

Developing SFU’s budget for 2026-27 is currently underway across the university and the final 2026-27 Financial and Budget Plan will be shared with the Board of Governors for approval in late March 2026. Learn about SFU’s budget here.

If you have any questions regarding tuition setting, please contact: ss_manager_operations@sfu.ca.

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