Canada Study Funds Calculator (2026)

Canada Study Funds Calculator: Tuition, Living Costs and Travel in One Number

A study permit refusal for insufficient funds is avoidable arithmetic. IRCC asks you to prove three separate sums — first-year tuition, living expenses for yourself and every family member who accompanies you, and transportation to and from Canada — and then satisfies itself that the money is yours, liquid and available on arrival. This free Canada study funds calculator adds those three parts for your exact household, subtracts tuition you have already paid, applies the living-expense table that took effect on 1 September 2026, and shows the shortfall against whatever you currently hold, with a cushion you can dial up or down. It complements our Canada proof of funds calculator, which handles the single-applicant minimum and Express Entry settlement funds; this one is built for students arriving with a family. Background on the numbers sits in Canada proof of funds 2026, and the wider affordability picture in cheap study abroad and work visa options.

The Three Amounts IRCC Actually Assesses

Officers do not look at one number, they look at three, and applicants who show only the published living figure get refused for missing the other two. First comes tuition for the first year, which you can evidence with a receipt from your designated learning institution — IRCC explicitly accepts proof that you paid first-year tuition and housing, provided other documents still cover living expenses and transport. Second comes living expenses, set by a national table that is revised every year and tied to Statistics Canada's low-income cut-off; for the first year the table is a hard minimum, and for programs longer than a year you must additionally show how you will fund the later years (a parent's employment letter, a multi-year scholarship, an education loan). Third comes transportation to and from Canada for you and everyone travelling with you, which IRCC requires but does not price — you choose and justify the figure.

Quebec sits outside this system entirely: the federal table covers every province and territory except Quebec, which sets its own financial requirements through its immigration ministry as part of the Certificat d'acceptation du Quebec process. Always check the Quebec figures before you file.

Living-Expense Table for Applications on or After 1 September 2026

IRCC published the current table on 28 August 2026 for applications submitted on or after 1 September 2026. It excludes tuition and transportation — those are added on top.

If you filed between 1 January 2025 and 31 August 2026, the older table applies to your file: $22,895 for one person, $28,502 for two, $35,040 for three, $42,543 for four, $48,252 for five, $54,420 for six, $60,589 for seven, and $6,170 for each person beyond seven. Officers assess against the table in force on the day they review the application, which is the practical reason to keep a cushion rather than sit a few dollars above a threshold that moves once a year.

How Family Size Is Counted for Accompanying Dependants

For a study permit the count is you plus whoever is coming with you: your spouse or common-law partner, your dependent children, and any children who are their dependent children. Children qualify as dependants while they are under 22 and not a spouse or common-law partner, or at any age if they have depended on you for support since before 22 and cannot support themselves because of a physical or mental condition. A partner who stays behind is not counted; a partner who is coming with you raises the living figure from $23,448 to $29,192 on their own.

This is the opposite of Express Entry, where the settlement-funds table counts every family member regardless of whether they travel — a distinction that trips people up when they move between streams. Our Canada proof of funds calculator covers both, and the CRS points estimator shows how a spouse changes your Express Entry score instead. Enter the accompanying count in the tool above and the table row is selected for you, including the $6,318 step for households above seven people.

Programs Shorter Than 12 Months

IRCC's document checklist splits the rule cleanly: if your studies will last less than a year, prove financial support for the duration of your studies; if more than a year, prove support for the first year. There is no published prorated table, so the working method — used by IRCC-facing advisors and university international offices alike — is to divide the annual figure by 12 and multiply by your months. A 10-month certificate for a single student therefore needs 10/12 × $23,448, about $19,540, rather than a full year. The calculator does that automatically and flags when a program runs past 12 months, because at that point you must also convince the officer that year two through year four are funded, not just year one.

Tuition Paid, Housing Receipts and the GIC Question

Money already handed to your institution is money you do not have to prove twice. Enter the first-year tuition and then whatever you have paid against it: a student paying $20,000 who has already sent $20,000 shows a tuition component of zero, while still owing the full living and travel sums. IRCC accepts the receipt as proof of payment but states that it must be accompanied by other documents proving sufficient funds for living expenses and transportation — so a paid tuition slip never replaces the bank evidence, it only removes the tuition line.

On the GIC: a Guaranteed Investment Certificate is no longer mandatory. The Student Direct Stream, which required one at $20,635, closed on 8 November 2024, so a GIC is now simply a strong optional exhibit — it proves secured, accessible living money at a Canadian institution. Equally acceptable are recent bank statements, a Canadian account you have transferred into, an education loan, a scholarship letter, or a sponsor's letter backed by that sponsor's own financial documents. What officers reject is the same in every stream: a lump sum deposited days before filing with no documented source.

Arranged Accommodation, Care Notes and Transport

If you have arranged accommodation or care in advance, document it — a housing confirmation or prepaid accommodation receipt from the institution, and for minor children a letter explaining care arrangements. These strengthen the file and evidence where the money is going, but they do not reduce the living-expense minimum; IRCC still wants the full table amount shown alongside them. Transport is the one component with no official number: include return flights for yourself and each accompanying family member, and note that inland transport, setting-up costs and a contingency are sensible to show even though IRCC does not publish a line for them. Our Canada visitor checklist covers the same evidence standards if a family member is applying separately first.

If Your Savings Fall Short

Run the calculator with your real balance and read the gap honestly. A shortfall is not fixed by rewording a letter; it is fixed by money that has been sitting still. The workable options, in the order officers find convincing: extend your saving runway and apply a quarter later, document a gift from a parent with their bank evidence and a relationship letter, secure a scholarship or a multi-year funding letter, take an education loan on paper before you apply, or reduce the household count if a dependant genuinely is not travelling. What never works is a sudden deposit, property equity, jewellery valuation, a credit-card limit or borrowed funds you must repay. Keep a 3–5% cushion for currency movement, because IRCC converts at the rate in effect during assessment rather than on the day you applied.

Document Checklist for Study Permit Funds

Build the file in this order and the financial section stops being a refusal risk: an official bank letter on letterhead with current and average balances, three to six months of statements showing the history behind that balance, the tuition receipt (and housing receipt if prepaid), a GIC or proof of a Canadian account if you opened one, loan or scholarship documentation, a sponsor letter with the sponsor's own ID and financial proof, proof of your relationship for every accompanying dependant, and a short note explaining any large credit. The calculator above prints a personalised version of this list once you have entered your household.

How We Fact-Checked This Calculator

All figures were checked on 4 October 2026 against IRCC's Study permit proof of financial support page (updated 28 August 2026) for the table applying to applications on or after 1 September 2026 — $23,448, $29,192, $35,888, $43,572, $49,419, $55,736, $62,054 and $6,318 for each person beyond seven, all excluding tuition and transportation — plus the previous table of $22,895, $28,502, $35,040, $42,543, $48,252, $54,420, $60,589 and $6,170 for files dated 1 January 2025 to 31 August 2026. The three-component rule, the under-a-year and over-a-year wording, and the tuition-receipt condition come from IRCC's Guide 5269 and document checklist IMM 5483. The end of the Student Direct Stream on 8 November 2024, which made the GIC optional, was confirmed against IRCC's stream announcement. Quebec's separate regime is stated on the same IRCC page.

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