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Your Student Budgeting Questions, Answered

Navigating student finances can be intimidating, but with the right guidance, you can make better informed decisions that can help secure your future.

It’s not just about course work or future job prospects—affordability, or a lack thereof, is becoming a key consideration when it comes to making decisions about post-secondary education. In fact, high costs can be enough to deter students from pursuing their chosen path, according to new data by TD.1

Fifty-four per cent of post-secondary students who took part in a new survey by TD say even if they were accepted into their desired program, they would not consider it if the costs were too high. 

But a little planning can go a long way, helping students and their families determine what they need and connecting them with the right financial tools that can assist in preparing them for success. Here are the answers to some top student budgeting questions.

Why is a student budget important?

Mastering important concepts that will set you up for your future career, living independently, building new professional and social networks—post-secondary studies are busy and stressful enough without having to worry about money. But of the 1,029 parents and post-secondary students who participated in TD’s research, 45 per cent say they don’t have adequate funds to cover basic needs such as food and housing, and 65 per cent define themselves as financially unstable.

A student budget is an important tool for managing this stress because it allows you to proactively plan for your needs and ensure you have solutions in place to cover your finances. With a budget in place, students and parents can anticipate how much is needed each month and where those funds will come from. 

What is the first step of planning a student budget?

With 94 per cent of parents of post-secondary students surveyed saying they provide financial support to their child, it really makes the most sense for parents and students to work on budget planning together.

The first step is understanding how much money you have to work with. Start by making a list of all income sources, including student loans, scholarship money, income from a summer or part-time job and any assistance from parents or other family members. 

Next, make a list of all expenses, including tuition, books, and supplies, rent or dorm fees, food, and so on. TD’s Student Budget Calculator can help you crunch the numbers and also provides tips for covering your costs.

What are some common budgeting mistakes students make? How can they be avoided?

A financial plan is only useful as long as you follow it, which is why planning a student budget is not a one-and-done exercise. Track your spending each month to make sure you are sticking to the plan. This can help to identify where you might be overspending or areas where you have allocated extra funds you could potentially use elsewhere. 

If you find you’re consistently off, it’s a good idea to revisit your plans based on your actual spending and not your estimates. There are many buckets to think about when planning a student budget—in addition to all the basics, it’s important to think about things like extracurriculars, social activities and the cost of travelling home, if applicable. Revisiting your budget allows you to adjust based on what student life actually looks like.

Do all post-secondary programs have similar costs?

No, the cost of schooling varies according to your program. According to Statistics Canada2, in 2022/2023, the average undergraduate tuition was $6,834 and grad school   $7,437 annually for Canadian students, and $36,123 and $21,111 respectively for international students. However, the true price tag depends on where and what you study. 

For example, tuition varies by province, with Nova Scotia clocking in highest for both undergrad and graduate programs, Statistics Canada found.3

Area of study matters too—Statistics Canada reports that on average, dentistry, medicine, and veterinary medicine have the highest tuition fees of the various professional degree programs available. This is evidenced in the TD survey, with 63 per cent of students polled saying they would have trouble paying for —or were worried about—the costs of pursuing one of these important healthcare streams. 


Helping post-secondary students and parents with budgeting and financial planning
TD offers a number of tools and resources to help students and parents with budgeting and financial planning for post-secondary education:

  • TD Student Budget Calculator is designed to help students manage their finances more effectively by inputting various sources of income and expenses, such as part-time job earnings, financial aid, tuition, textbooks, and other living costs to see where money is going and where spending may need to be adjusted.
  • TD MySpend allows users to control their savings and spending by tracking daily and monthly cash flow, creating a wish list of savings goals and getting insights to help make these goals a reality.
  • The TD Student Advice Hub helps students navigate their financial journey while in school and beyond through a variety of financial literacy planning tools and advice.

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1 About the survey

This Maru Public Opinion survey conducted on behalf of TD Bank was undertaken by the sample and data collection experts at Maru/Blue. 1,029 randomly selected Canadian adults who are Maru Voice Canada online panelists were surveyed from July 26th to August 4th 2024, of which 514 are currently enrolled post-secondary students and 515 are parents of children currently enrolled in post-secondary school. The results of this study have been weighted by region to match the population, according to Census data. For comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size has an estimated margin of error (which measures sampling variability) of +/- 4.3%, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals when compared to the data tables are due to rounding.