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Cost Differences Between Canadian Medical Schools


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Hi all,

 

Have any of you chosen to attend one Canadian medical school over another based on cost differences?

 

As an example, U of T has an annual tuition of $21,130 whereas UBC's annual tuition is only $16,731. Over four years this would amount to a ($21,130-$16,731)*4 = $17,596 difference.

 

Is this cost difference significant or will UBC students end up spending more in other areas so that the overall cost of each medical school evens out in the end? When choosing between different Canadian medicals schools should cost even play a role in my decision?

 

Thanks

 

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Hi all,

 

Have any of you chosen to attend one Canadian medical school over another based on cost differences?

 

As an example, U of T has an annual tuition of $21,130 whereas UBC's annual tuition is only $16,731. Over four years this would amount to a ($21,130-$16,731)*4 = $17,596 difference.

 

Is this cost difference significant or will UBC students end up spending more in other areas so that the overall cost of each medical school evens out in the end? When choosing between different Canadian medicals schools should cost even play a role in my decision?

 

Thanks

The cost difference doesn't play any role for Canadian schools.  You have line of credits and loans to pay for them.

 

And you come out making a significant amount more that the differences are literally negligible. 

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Actually, from purely anecdotal experience, I think it works out to be cheaper to be at U of T.  Ontario offers a bursary (OSAP I think) that a lot of students can apply for.  For UBC, there is no bursary from the government, and all bursaries come from UBC.  How much you get from UBC is extremely variable, and it is a frequent occurrence to get nothing. 

 

In reality though, it is insignificant compared to how much you spend for cost of living, so don't let this affect you on which school you will attend.

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Come to MUN! We've had a tuition freeze for half a dozen years... $6000 per year! Undergrad degrees are $3000! In fact, tuition was so cheap they actually bumped the MBA tuition up to make it more 'competitive' with other institutions. People like to crap on NL but we've got it figured out with tuition

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The cost difference doesn't play any role for Canadian schools.  You have line of credits and loans to pay for them.

 

And you come out making a significant amount more that the differences are literally negligible. 

 

Nice to know that $17,596 desn't make any difference in loan repayment. So what's the average debt?

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Nice to know that $17,596 desn't make any difference in loan repayment. So what's the average debt?

That amount is minuscule, in the context of what the average physician makes.  There are some medical students who use their LOCs frivolously and are have poor money management skills - aside from those select cases, the average person should have absolutely zero issues with debt repayment for a Canadian medical school.

 

The difference in cost SHOULD not be a deciding factor. You are going to be making significantly more once you are done.  If you have a family of 5, and prior debt from a past career - then maybe it might make a difference, but there are so many other variables that are much more relevant to your decision making. 

 

It really fathoms me that medical students complain about money - first world problems at its finest.. I mean, look at the US - tuition costs there are significantly higher, interests fees are way higher,  loan origination fees exist, and there is so much more variance in renumeration and quality of your day-to-day practice in their health care system. 

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That amount is minuscule, in the context of what the average physician makes.  There are some medical students who use their LOCs frivolously and are have poor money management skills - aside from those select cases, the average person should have absolutely zero issues with debt repayment for a Canadian medical school.

 

The difference in cost SHOULD not be a deciding factor. You are going to be making significantly more once you are done.  If you have a family of 5, and prior debt from a past career - then maybe it might make a difference, but there are so many other variables that are much more relevant to your decision making. 

 

It really fathoms me that medical students complain about money - first world problems at its finest.. I mean, look at the US - tuition costs there are significantly higher, interests fees are way higher,  loan origination fees exist, and there is so much more variance in renumeration and quality of your day-to-day practice in their health care system. 

 

 

Youa re right, and difference in tuition cost is unlikely to be deciding factor. Cost of living factors more. However, places with high tuition seem to have high cost of living too

 

.In most cases, this is moot -  only a few have multiple choices.

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That amount is minuscule, in the context of what the average physician makes.  There are some medical students who use their LOCs frivolously and are have poor money management skills - aside from those select cases, the average person should have absolutely zero issues with debt repayment for a Canadian medical school.

 

The difference in cost SHOULD not be a deciding factor. You are going to be making significantly more once you are done.  If you have a family of 5, and prior debt from a past career - then maybe it might make a difference, but there are so many other variables that are much more relevant to your decision making. 

 

It really fathoms me that medical students complain about money - first world problems at its finest.. I mean, look at the US - tuition costs there are significantly higher, interests fees are way higher,  loan origination fees exist, and there is so much more variance in renumeration and quality of your day-to-day practice in their health care system. 

 

Two points I guess :)

 

1) Yeah it is manageable by a full staff position although people do have to be aware of the crunch during residency. Cash flow is the issue and residency is often a lot longer than medical school (say with a fellowship 6 years versus about 3.67 years of medical school). If you live like a  resident as staff you could probably pay it off with in about 2 years (although for tax reasons that probably is kind of a dumb thing to do).

 

2) It is high enough already to have impacts on people getting into medical school. Ha, just had a long thread about that. As a society we have to be mindful of that.

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Youa re right, and difference in tuition cost is unlikely to be deciding factor. Cost of living factors more. However, places with high tuition seem to have high cost of living too

 

.In most cases, this is moot -  only a few have multiple choices.

well there is a reason for that of course more expensive to run a school in downtown TO than in say Hamilton.

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I find it funny that people are talking about how expensive medical school is, when doctors earn so much money, it's really a moot point.  Remember - OSAP amounts can be large, with huge chunks of cash never needed to be paid back.  Most medical schools have large bursaries as well that often cover huge costs.  LOC limits are huge. 

 

To put into perspective, I know people at NYU doing dents.  Tuition + Living (on the cheap) is 118K US a year.  That is 150K CAD a year - or 600K for a 4 year degree.  That does not include any fabulous lifestyle, nor does it include accrued interest or lost earnings in other jobs.  And people keep doing it - and coming back to Canada to start from complete scratch.

 

Med school IS cheap in Canada - and considering the obscene amounts  some docs make (radiologists, plastics, opthals, cardios, gastros), and even the high amounts lower paid doctors (GPS, pscyhs) - the tuition factor really is a moot point.  Medical students whining about their debts are just self interested people that like bending the truth to make people more sympathetic to them, even though financially they are in a killer position.  It's kind of dishonest to be quite frank.

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Can I just point out that contrary to popular belief (;)) not all of us are from Ontario, and the rest of us don't get huge chunks of our student loans as bursaries.

We also get less of a clerkship stipend.

 

Obviously it's still totally manageable, but just saying.

 

Also, with cost of living (3 vs 4,years), Calgary worked out to close to 50 000 cheaper than UBC. It wasn't my main deciding factor, not by a long shot, but it wasn't insignificant.

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Can I just point out that contrary to popular belief (;)) not all of us are from Ontario, and the rest of us don't get huge chunks of our student loans as bursaries.

We also get less of a clerkship stipend.

 

Obviously it's still totally manageable, but just saying.

 

Also, with cost of living (3 vs 4,years), Calgary worked out to close to 50 000 cheaper than UBC. It wasn't my main deciding factor, not by a long shot, but it wasn't insignificant.

Ironic that you said that since Alberta student loans is better than osap. Alberta provincial loan has 150k lifetime max iirc.

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Ironic that you said that since Alberta student loans is better than osap. Alberta provincial loan has 150k lifetime max iirc.

Yes but I get BC student loans....

 

And they may be better max wise but OSAP still gives way more money back than any other province I think. Correct me if I'm wrong...

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Yes but I get BC student loans....

 

And they may be better max wise but OSAP still gives way more money back than any other province I think. Correct me if I'm wrong...

Ah i see unlucky with BC loans as I. Oh is that so? I wasn't aware that they inherently got more in the way of bursaries.

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Yes but I get BC student loans....

 

And they may be better max wise but OSAP still gives way more money back than any other province I think. Correct me if I'm wrong...

true it does - wasn't always the case but coupled with their tuition increase the grants increased.

 

that is why it is to hard to uncouple things - quebec has low tuition but really low residency pay, Ontario has high fees, but grants......

 

you always have to look at the overall picture.

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The difference in tuition does not matter over the long term. This whole discussion is splitting hairs.

 

Get your MD and finish residency and you can pay off any med school debt in a reasonable amount of time. The guy who did med school at UBC will not be in debt for a significantly longer time than the guy who went somewhere else, the differential in tuition is just not wide enough.

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Come to MUN! We've had a tuition freeze for half a dozen years... $6000 per year! Undergrad degrees are $3000! In fact, tuition was so cheap they actually bumped the MBA tuition up to make it more 'competitive' with other institutions. People like to crap on NL but we've got it figured out with tuition

Seconded.

 

Also, that's because the people doing the crapping are idiots.

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  • 1 month later...

Come to MUN! We've had a tuition freeze for half a dozen years... $6000 per year! Undergrad degrees are $3000! In fact, tuition was so cheap they actually bumped the MBA tuition up to make it more 'competitive' with other institutions. People like to crap on NL but we've got it figured out with tuition

 

 

I would love to apply there then but they may not accept me :) 

 

I like TaMMI system!

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It kind of plays in as a factor when 22K is what you pay for all four years at McGill as a QC resident.  Plus, Quebec's AFE provides upwards of $16k/year about $12k of which don't need to be paid back.  

 

Personally, as a person who's super sensitive to finances growing up under the poverty line and with debt already from undergrad, finances *do* factor in my decision. It is by no means the only factor.  It's just a part of it.  Sure I'll be making lots later, but that's going to be 6+ years before the 6 figure earnings roll in. Meanwhile LOC isn't the answer to all financial problems since you'll eventually have to pay it back plus interest. 20K debt is already scaring me now, I don't know how I'd react to 200K debt.  Given the choice between any school in Canada and McGill, I'd choose McGill in a heartbeat simply because of how cheap it is for me. 

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It kind of plays in as a factor when 22K is what you pay for all four years at McGill as a QC resident. Plus, Quebec's AFE provides upwards of $16k/year about $12k of which don't need to be paid back.

 

Personally, as a person who's super sensitive to finances growing up under the poverty line and with debt already from undergrad, finances *do* factor in my decision. It is by no means the only factor. It's just a part of it. Sure I'll be making lots later, but that's going to be 6+ years before the 6 figure earnings roll in. Meanwhile LOC isn't the answer to all financial problems since you'll eventually have to pay it back plus interest. 20K debt is already scaring me now, I don't know how I'd react to 200K debt. Given the choice between any school in Canada and McGill, I'd choose McGill in a heartbeat simply because of how cheap it is for me.

Well, obviously, but only a minority of applicants in Canada are Quebec residents.

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Well, obviously, but only a minority of applicants in Canada are Quebec residents.

Huh? I thought this question was for all Canadian medical schools.

 

QC has 4 out of the 17 med schools in Canada. QC apps are a minority, but that count so are Ontario schools. QC with its four schools receives over 8000 applications, which is about half as many as Ontario, still way more than any other province. I wouldn't discount them.

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Huh? I thought this question was for all Canadian medical schools.

 

QC has 4 out of the 17 med schools in Canada. QC apps are a minority, but that count so are Ontario schools. QC with its four schools receives over 8000 applications, which is about half as many as Ontario, still way more than any other province. I wouldn't discount them.

Well, it is, but the original question was if anybody had picked a school based on cost. Most people are not in a position to be in province in Quebec and also get into an out of province school. Therefore, for the vast majority of applicants, the cost difference between medical schools is not really a significant factor, because the price differences are small.

Obviously in the situation you described, I'd agree with you.

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Well, it is, but the original question was if anybody had picked a school based on cost. Most people are not in a position to be in province in Quebec and also get into an out of province school. Therefore, for the vast majority of applicants, the cost difference between medical schools is not really a significant factor, because the price differences are small.

Obviously in the situation you described, I'd agree with you.

Exactly.

 

As for the notion of debt, a doctor is going to easily be able to pay off any debt you will accrue as a CMG. Zero issue, unless you start spending like crazy on things you dont need.

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