Step 3. Plan Your Budget

How much should I budget for one year ?

Expense details

Prices are in Canadian dollars and are subject to change without notice.
* Approximate amounts

Prices are in Canadian dollars and are subject to change without notice.
* Approximate amounts

Prices are in Canadian dollars and are subject to change without notice.
* Approximate amounts

Under Quebec regulations regarding tuition fees for Quebec universities and colleges, tuition fees for international students consist of those required of Quebec students plus an additional financial contribution.

To encourage cooperation, the government of Quebec grants an exemption from the additional financial contribution to students who meet specific conditions. Students who receive an exemption pay the same tuitions fees as Quebec students.

Automatically exempted students upon presentation of the required documents:

• French citizens (Quebec-France agreement)
• Recipients of a differential tuition fee waiver scholarship
• Dependents of Canadian government-accredited diplomats living in Quebec
• Dependents of someone working in Quebec on a Canadian work permit (or a dependent of a member of the clergy) (Attention! Some conditions apply)
• Refugees whose status is recognized by Canada and who hold a Quebec Selection Certificate (QSC)
• Bearers of a valid Quebec Selection Certificate (QSC) (for certain categories only) and who have already submitted their application inside Canada.

*The QSC requires one of the following category types: C0, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, F1, F8, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, HA, HB, HC, HD, HE, HF, HG, HH, HI, HJ, HK, HL, HM, HN, HO, ID, I4, I5, I6, IJ, IK, IL, IP, IT or RA AND the federal processing center requires one of the following: CTD of Vegreville, CIC of Missisauga-CTD, CIC of Montreal, CIC of Quebec, CIC of Hull, CIC of Sherbrooke or CIC of Trois-Rivières. If the CSQ does not have both these requirements, then the exemption is not applicable.

How to request a differential tuition fee waiver scholarship?

Please follow the indications available online on the website of the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport.

We suggest you start the application process as soon as you receive your admission letter in order to be able to benefit from the scholarship right from your first semester at HEC Montréal.

Before leaving your home country, international students need to make sure that they have sufficient funds to finance their studies. HEC Montréal does not offer any student loan or bursary program that could constitute a source of funding for your studies. Bursaries from the governments of Quebec and Canada and from most international organizations are managed directly by the authorities of the recipient’s country. Please check with relevant authorities in your country, which are the only ones empowered to receive and forward bursary applications. 

You can finance your studies by means of:

• Your personal savings
• A student loan from a bank (in France, banks offer “Grandes Écoles” loans with attractive interest rates)
• Student or mobility grants. Remember to apply to all possible levels of government in your home country (city, state, township, region, province, members of parliament, ministries, etc.) and to foundations.
• By working part time: on-campus work opportunities are scarce and do not provide a sufficient source of financing.  International students are authorized to work part time and off-campus after they have completed 6 months of full-time studies and by abiding to certain conditions.

Committed to fostering new generations of quality students, HEC Montréal offers admission scholarships for various programs. The scholarships are awarded to candidates with outstanding academic records and above-average qualifications. 

For more on admission scholarships 

• B.B.A.
• Graduate diplomas (D.E.S.S.) (available in French only)
• MBA
• M.Sc. – HEC Montréal Scholarships

We highly recommend that you pay your tuition fees before coming to Canada in order to meet deadlines.

In order to cover your costs and expenses, you will need to get your funds to Canada. Fluctuations in the exchange rates between the Canadian dollar and your home currency can affect your budget from month to month. Refer to the Bank of Canada’s online conversion page for current and historical exchange rates. 

Canada does not have any system of exchange rate controls. However, your country may have such controls. 

One way you can receive funds in Canada is to have your bank transfer funds to a bank in Montreal, specifically to an account that you would open in your name when you arrive here. You can also send funds to a Canadian bank before you leave and have them deposited into your account once you’ve opened one in Montréal. You can carry out these transactions at most major foreign banks that have Canadian branches. 

For information on how to transfer funds, consult the following page. 

You can also bring money with you, or have someone send you a bank drafts by mail, which can be cashed at a Canadian bank. However, keep in mind that when you open an account, some banks take up to 30 business days before they give you access to the funds deposited in the form of bank drafts or personal cheques. We strongly discourage you to send funds using an international postal money order, as the process is long, complicated and the fees are very high. 

Instead, we suggest that you arrive in Montreal with enough cash and traveller’s cheques to cover your expenses for the first month, and that you obtain a VISA or MasterCard credit card. Because acceptance of other credit cards tends not to be as widespread here, some students are known to have run into difficulties when using other ones. And finally, we suggest that you obtain bills of $50 or smaller, as $100 bills tend not to be accepted everywhere.