What I Spend in a Month as a Student at University of New Brunswick

University: University of New Brunswick
Program: Business Administration
Age: 22

I’m originally from Pakistan, but was raised in Dubai where I went to an American high school that followed a North American curriculum. I knew I wanted to study somewhere in North America, and a Canadian university degree is internationally known as being a good degree. University tuition in Canada is expensive for international students—I pay $22,000 a year. I applied to universities in Canada that had good scholarships for international students. I got into most of the schools I applied for, but the University of New Brunswick gave me the largest scholarship—equivalent to $32,000 over four years. I’ve been working at the campus library since my first year. I work 10 hours a week during the school year for $16.25 an hour, and then I work full-time over the summer, from May to August.

Rent: $330

I share a five-bedroom house that I found on Facebook Marketplace. I was worried because the rent was so cheap, but the room is almost double the size of other spots I looked at. The landlord understands it’s hard for students to pay rent, so he keeps it affordable. Our rent only goes up by $5 a year and laundry is 75 cents per load. I really like having roommates. We make meals together and chat after school to talk about how our days were. It’s like having a second family.

Utilities and internet: $96

Heat and hydro are an additional $40 to $100 a month. The bills are in one of my roommates’ names, so we just e-transfer them our share every month. A different roommate is in charge of Wi-Fi, which costs $26 per person per month.

Groceries: $150

I usually shop at Walmart about once a week and at Costco once a month. One of my roommates has a car and a Costco membership, or I’ll go with another friend who has a car and lives nearby. At the start of the semester, when it’s not as busy and I have time to cook, I’ll grocery shop weekly. But when it gets busy and I’m studying for exams, I live on snacks and bread. I’ll only go grocery shopping once a month.

Meals and snacks on campus: $70

I love hot chocolate. I drink it daily, even in the summer months. It’s something I discovered after I moved to Canada. I buy a big container of hot chocolate powder to have in the house and I’ll also buy it two times a week while I’m on campus, from Tim Horton’s or the cafeteria. One hot chocolate costs about $2.50. Once a week I’ll buy a crispy chicken sandwich from Tim Hortons for lunch, which costs $5.50, and a small pack of 10 Timbits for $3—I get all chocolate ones. They’re my favourite.

Transportation: $55 for a monthly bus pass

I take the bus to the grocery store if no one can drive me, to visit friends who live farther away from campus or to pick up a package if no one was home to receive it. If I don’t think I’m going to use the bus as often one month, I might not buy the pass and just pay per ride, which is $2.75.

Textbooks and other class costs: $110

Only one of my professors this semester told us we had to buy a textbook. It was for a human resources course. Otherwise, our professors usually just make PowerPoints that we can study from, or I find free PDFs of the textbooks I need online. Sometimes I need to print out assignments and research pages to study from, which costs 10 cents per black-and-white page. I topped up my student card this month with $10 for printing.

Dining out: $80

My meals out are usually fast food. I go to McDonald’s a lot since there’s one on the way to Walmart. I get a 20-pack of chicken nuggets or a Big Mac meal and some ice cream. My roommate and I also get food from Costco whenever we go. The prices are so reasonable and it fills you up. It’s $1.50 for a hot dog with pop and $2.50 for an ice cream. Once every few months, I might do a restaurant meal. I went for ramen once this semester, but it was about $20 after tax and tip, which is pretty expensive for me.

Movies: $15

I go to the movies once a month. This semester, I saw Scream and Barbie. The theatre near me shows Bollywood movies sometimes too. I saw the Taylor Swift Eras Tour movie twice, even though it was more expensive than the average movie—$25 per ticket. The first time I went by myself, then the second time I went with a Swiftie friend. It was totally worth it. We were singing along the whole time.

Subscriptions: $6.89 a month for Spotify, on a student plan

I usually listen to music at night before I go to sleep, or if I’m on the bus or walking around campus. I’m on my parents’ family Netflix plan, so I can watch shows for fre

Total monthly spend: $912.89

This story appeared in the 2024 edition of the Ultimate Guide to Canadian Universities.