Saskatchewan offers Ukrainian students international tuition relief  

Forced to flee their homes in Ukraine with little following Russia’s invasion of their country more than four years ago, many Ukrainian students in Canada now face further financial strain with the looming requirement to pay international tuition fees at many universities across the country.  

Alone among provinces, Saskatchewan will continue to offer domestic tuition rates to students who arrived in the country under the Canada-Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program.

“It gives students some assurance,” said Saskatchewan Advanced Education Minister Ken Cheveldayoff in an interview. “We want them to be educated and stay in Saskatchewan and make it their home.” 

He estimated that about 36 Ukrainian students in the province would benefit from the tuition extension, which will remain in effect until Mar. 31, 2030.

According to the fall 2025 Statistics Canada Tuition and Living Accommodation Costs survey, the average domestic undergraduate student in Saskatchewan paid $9,383 in yearly tuition, compared to $33,064 for an international undergraduate. The national average for international undergraduate tuition was $41,746 annually. 

Mr. Cheveldayoff, who is partly of Ukrainian descent, said that the Saskatchewan government is also assisting Ukrainian students to pursue the path to permanent residence or citizenship.

Marjorie Delbaere, interim vice-provost for students and learning at the University of Saskatchewan, said in a statement that the provincial government’s decision to extend tuition relief ensures that “leaners, who came here seeking refuge, have the stability and support to complete their education here in Saskatchewan.” 

Rules vary by province and institution 

Next door in Manitoba, the situation for Ukrainian students is different. 

Those who “began their studies under a CUAET visa and were assessed at domestic tuition will be able to complete their program under that same assessment,” according to a statement from the University of Manitoba, which said that affects 107 Ukrainian students. 

“As the federal government is no longer issuing CUAET visas, any new students arriving from Ukraine will be assessed at international tuition rates.” 

The federal government launched the CUAET program in 2022 as a temporary measure to help Ukrainians flee the ongoing war with Russia. Although the government has not issued any new CUAET permits since 2023, on March 31 Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that existing permit-holders will have until March 2027 to apply for extensions that will allow them to stay in and work Canada for an additional three years. 

Although “Alberta’s post-secondary institutions have the authority to set their own tuition and fees,” Myles McDougall, the provincial minister of advanced education, said in a statement, “we know that institutions [such as the University of Alberta] consider the circumstances of students facing exceptional challenges, and many have provided and continue to provide domestic tuition rates or other supports specifically for Ukrainian students.”  

“We recognize the concerns raised by Ukrainian students, many of whom have been impacted by ongoing conflict, and will continue to work with institutions to ensure the system is fair, consistent, and sustainable for international students,” he said. 

In March, Canada’s largest post-secondary institution, the University of Toronto (U of T), began to phase out international fee exemptions for Ukrainian students living in Canada under the CUAET program. Current students will continue to be eligible for domestic tuition fees while they complete their degrees, said Dwayne Benjamin, vice-provost, strategic enrolment management, in a statement.

Ukrainian students with CUAET status who are starting at U of T in fall 2026 will be eligible for domestic tuition until the end of the fall/winter 2026-27 academic year, after which they will pay international tuition. Meanwhile, new students enrolling from summer 2027 onwards will pay international student fees. “International students are expected to pay international tuition fees with very limited exceptions, in accordance with federal and provincial policies,” the statement noted.

The Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union has called on U of T to charge domestic tuition to all students who are in Canada under CUAET, many of whom “applied and accepted offers” based on the assumption of paying domestic tuition rates and now face “unexpected financial barriers at a critical stage in the admissions process, with some now at risk of being unable to pursue their education altogether or needing to rethink their entire academic timeline,” Daria Furtak, president of the students’ union wrote in a March 27 letter to U of T President Melanie Woodin. 

“We believe that the sudden withdrawal of this support may have been influenced by an erroneous interpretation of the CUAET program timeline,” the letter states, pointing out that the visa extension provisions mean many Ukrainian students and their families will be remaining in Canada for another three years beyond 2027. “The need for accessible education pathways therefore remains both present and urgent.”  

According to the university, first-year domestic undergraduate student tuition for 2025-26 ranged from about $6,100 to $16,090, while the range for international tuition was from approximately $48,090 to $70,060.

In her letter to the U of T president, Ms. Furtak said that her students’ union has reached out to provincial education ministries “to explore funding mechanisms that would assist institutions in continuing to offer domestic tuition to Ukrainian students, helping to alleviate the financial burden on universities.” 

Minister calls for Canada-wide approach

Minister Cheveldayoff would like to see a national approach involving consultation with the provinces taken to address the tuition situation for Ukrainian students and said he plans to raise the issue at the meeting of the Council of Ministers of Education in Quebec City next month.

Former Nova Scotia independent senator Stan Kutcher, professor emeritus of psychiatry at Dalhousie University, told University Affairs that he asked Conservative MLA Brendan Maguire, the Government House Leader and former advanced education minister, whether the provincial government would extend domestic tuition relief to Ukrainian students. Dr. Kutcher said that he “received a negative response” and that his attempts to have a follow-up discussion with the minister about this matter were “met with radio silence.” 

University Affairs has reached out to the department of higher education for comment.

Dr. Kutcher, an ethnic Ukrainian, noted that many Ukrainian students came to Canada with their families, graduated from high school here, “speak English way better than they speak Ukrainian” and now face paying international tuition at universities because they are neither permanent residents nor Canadian citizens.