We list 8 Computer Science programmes in Canada — 6 master's and 2 bachelor's — and hold a verified tuition figure for 7 of them, each read off the university's own page. Eight programmes across eight different universities, with no institution carrying two.
The spread is the story, and it is enormous
Across the verified figures the annual tuition runs from CAD 7,800 to CAD 90,050, with a median of CAD 21,349.
That is a factor of eleven between the cheapest and the dearest, and it is not a gentle curve. Memorial University of Newfoundland lists its MSc in Computer Science at CAD 7,800. The University of Toronto's Master of Science in Applied Computing is CAD 90,050. Both are Canadian master's in computer science, and one costs roughly what eleven years of the other would.
Compare that to the same subject in the UK, where the whole verified range is a little over two-and-a-half times from bottom to top. In Canada the university you choose moves the bill further than any other decision you make — further than the city, further than the length, further than the subject.
The pattern behind the number is worth understanding, because it is not random. The cheap end is research master's at smaller universities — Memorial, Manitoba, Lakehead, Concordia. The expensive end is course-based professional master's at the big names, where the fee buys an industry placement and a recruiting pipeline. They are different products that happen to share a subject line, and comparing their price tags without noticing that is how people end up confused.
Two years, not one
Five of the eight run 24 months, one runs 16, and the two bachelor's run 48. This is the structural difference between Canada and Britain that most cost comparisons miss entirely: a Canadian master's is usually a two-year degree and a British one is usually twelve months.
Two years means two years of tuition and two years of living costs. A CAD 21,000 programme over two years is a larger total than a £22,000 programme over one, even though the annual figure looks friendlier. Run the multiplication before you decide — it reverses a lot of first impressions.
What you get for the second year is real: more time for a co-op or internship, a proper thesis if it is a research master's, and a longer runway to find work before the degree ends.
Where the 8 are
The universities are the University of Toronto, the University of Waterloo, McGill University, the University of Manitoba, Concordia University, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Thompson Rivers University and Lakehead University.
Eight universities for eight programmes is a scattered list rather than a market, and we would rather say so than present it as a complete picture of Canadian computer science. Treat this as a sample across the price range, not a shortlist.
Entry requirements
Where an English requirement is recorded it clusters at IELTS 6.5 overall, with one programme asking 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. Several state a per-component floor alongside the overall score, and that floor is where applications are lost — an overall 7.0 carrying a 5.5 in writing fails a 6.0 minimum.
Our listings record no academic cut-off for these programmes, so we will not quote one. Canadian computer science admissions weigh the research fit for a thesis-based MSc — whether a supervisor wants to take you — at least as heavily as marks, and that is a conversation with a department rather than a number on a page.
The work permit, and the test nobody mentions
The Post-Graduation Work Permit is the reason most people choose Canada, and the rules changed in ways that are widely half-reported. Two things are worth getting right.
There is no field-of-study requirement for degree graduates. The restriction introduced for study permit applications from 1 November 2024 applies to college, polytechnic and other non-university programmes — IRCC states plainly that there are no field-of-study requirements for graduates with a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree. If you have read that your subject must be on a list, that is the college rule, not the university one.
There is now a language requirement, and it is not the test you already took. University degree graduates need CLB 7 in all four abilities. IRCC's published equivalence puts CLB 7 at IELTS General Training 6.0 in listening, reading, writing and speaking — and General Training is a different test from the Academic one you sat for admission. The Academic score that got you into the programme does not count for the permit. CELPIP-General 7 and PTE Core are the other accepted routes.
That catches people at the end of a two-year degree, when there is the least time to fix it. We have written more on post-study work visas, and the official eligibility page is the one to check before you plan around any of it.
Browse the set: Computer Science in Canada, master's only, or the subject across every destination we list. The wider picture is in master's in Canada for Indian students.
Catalogue figures counted from our published listings on 20 October 2026: 7 of 8 programmes carry a tuition figure verified against the university's own page, in Canadian dollars. PGWP eligibility and the CLB 7 requirement from canada.ca, and the CLB-to-test equivalence from IRCC's language testing page, both read 20 October 2026. Immigration rules change; confirm on canada.ca before you plan around them.