so i did some calculations and it seems i will be 3.0 FCE short by the end of my fifth year. I’ll probably do .5 or 1.0 FCE in the summer and take an extra semester to do the remaining 2/2.5 FCE but i was wondering since that’s a full course load if I would be a full time student and would i have to pay full tuition? or just tuition for one semester? would u suggest doing more in the summers instead i really dont want to do a full extra year

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hey there,

it’s always a little hard to answer tuition questions without details on faculty/program/year– there’s so much variation at this school and so many ways this could go. is this your fifth year? or are you anticipating this several years in advance? i have so many questions.

in 2020 we take care of ourselves, so for the sake of my own sanity, i’m gonna base this answer off of a first-year domestic innis college student’s fees instead of trying to cover every possibility ever. if you’d like me to do another division, let me know. you can always check your own fees out on fees.utoronto.ca or hit up your registrar for more specific advice.

if you’re in your fifth year already, i’m not sure that there’s any way you can avoid taking another fall or winter semester. the maximum you can typically fulfill in the summer is 2.0 credits, or 2 courses per each of the 2 summer semesters. there are exceptions to the 2.0 credit limit– you can request a course overload— but i really wouldn’t recommend doing so unless your academic record is impressive and you won’t have any other summer commitments.

so let’s say you take 2.0 credits in the summer. that means you’d be taking quicker-paced courses at the maximum summer load, and you’d still have 1.0 credits to complete. hmm.

if it’s between that and taking a lighter summer courseload, i’d take the lighter summer courseload. if you leave 2/2.5 FCE for the fall or in the winter, you’ll be paying per-course fees anyway, which should total to $3,163.36 with fees for 2 FCE or $3,773.36 for 2.5. that is, based on past fee schedules. you only pay full-time fees if you’re registered in 4.0 credits or more in fall/winter, so hopefully that helps ease a little bit of anxiety. i hope that answers what seems to be your main question, as well– whether you’d need to pay a full year of full-time tuition or not. you wouldn’t.

if you’re not in your fifth year, it would certainly be easier for you to avoid doing another year by taking summer courses. how many summer courses you’d need would depend on what you’re comfortable taking fall-winter, as well– if you’re up to it, you could stack 6 courses fall/winter and pay a lil less tuition. but i know that’s not necessarily feasible for everyone– it certainly wouldn’t be for me.

if you’re not a domestic innis student (which, statistically, you’re probably not) please check this advice over with someone, like your registrar! like i said, fees do vary quite drastically between different divisions. obviously what will vary most is the specific fee estimate– i think that generally it’s true that below 4.0 FCEs you don’t pay program fees, so you’d be exempted.

but like, never base your life choices solely on something a stranger on the internet said (i say, as i purport to offer all the answers to everything ever like the overreaching keener i am).

be Boundless,

aska

what are incidental fees? do i need to be doing something with them? thanks aska!!!!

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hello there,

incidental fees are pretty much the fees you pay to be a student at u of t, but separate from what you pay to study at u of t. if that makes any sense. when you pay for them, you get access to all sorts of services and programs that add to your university experience, whether that includes getting access to athletic centres, clubs, healthcare, or campus media.

if you’re asking if you ‘need to be doing something with them’ because you’ve seen something pop up on your ACORN, then yes, i guess you kinda do have to do something. this year, you’re able to opt out of any non-mandatory incidental fees, which should be shown to you in some kinda checklist when you log into ACORN.

this is because of the government of ontario’s student choice initiative, which you can read more about here. in short, the government has deemed an array of fees non-essential, jeopardizing the operations of these programs in the coming year. thing is, these programs– your student societies, campus newspapers, and clubs– contribute so much to the vibrancy of life at u of t, and are such valuable opportunities for students to learn soft skills outside of the classroom. these are skills that can make you more employable when you graduate, which i’d say is easily worth the money you’d be spending now.

so if you have the financial means to do so, i would strongly encourage you to stay opted in.

be Boundless,

aska

can you pay your fees at the university or does it have to be online, because my dad is old fashioned and wants to go to the actual university to pay. Also if I pay on the second to last day of the deadline am I screwed or would I be ok?

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hey there,

looked into this for ya and unfortunately, it does seem like u of t doesn’t accept payment on campus. that practice does seem to be a ~relic of bygone times~ here. just like i’ll be in a few years.

as long as you’re a domestic student, though, you should be able to pay in person– it would just have to be at a bank, not at the university itself. you’d need to visit a branch of your bank, probably with your student account number on you (i don’t think they can ensure the payment goes to your account without it). i know it’s not technically the same as going to the university to pay, but hey, it’s the best we got. your bank will get the payment to the school, trust.

really hope that works for you! lemme know if you’re not domestic, i’ll try to dig up another solution for ya.

and yes, if you pay on the second to last day before the deadline you are a-okay. the uni knows we procrastinate, and gives us a lovely lil 10-business-day grace period after the deadline. by then, your payment should be processed!

be Boundless,

aska

is there any downside to deferring tuition costs?

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hey friendo,

as far as i’m aware, i don’t think there is! deferral seems to just be a real nice thing the uni does if you’ve got a legitimate reason not to pay your fees on time, like you’re waiting on scholarships or OSAP. as long as you remember you’ve deferred your fees and ensure that they get paid, you should be fine. make sure you’re also aware of deadlines, too. you’ll need to pay your full tuition by april 30 at the latest. if you don’t, you’ll have trouble registering for future sessions.

if you’re worried about a specific situation or circumstance, i’d recommend you get in touch with your registrar. they’ll likely be able to walk that through with you better than i can!

be Boundless,

aska

do you have to pay the whole year 1 tuition fee before starting year 1, or only the first semester fee? my fee balance on acorn shows the whole year fee and i’m wondering if i have to pay that all at once.

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hey there,

fees can be so confusing. i am not a fan. i’ve been doing this u of t (and this aska) thing for a lil while now, and i still got massively tripped up going through all the different fees documents and trying to answer this. gotta love me some bureaucracy.

according to the student accounts website, though, you only have to pay whatever your minimum payment to register is before the school year starts. you can find  that amount by going into ACORN, looking for the ‘finances’ section, and clicking the ‘view invoice’ button. just ctrl+f ‘minimum payment’ or scroll right down to the bottom of the page.

if you’re an artsci, architecture, music or kinesiology kid, the deadline to pay this minimum payment is august 28th. you won’t need to pay your fall tuition til the 30th of september. meanwhile, your winter tuition is due november 30th. 

minimum payment deadlines for other faculties and campuses can vary– eng kids only have til august 15, while utsc and utm students’ deadlines are august 12th and 13th respectively.

don’t skip out on these deadlines, friends. they are kinda sorta probably important, if you’re interested in not paying extra fees and/or staying registered. y’know.

one more pro tip– if you send a payment in and it doesn’t go through, hold your horses. wait for it to process. this is especially true if you’ve paid right on the last day. you’ve got a fun lil ten-business-day grace period for your payment to go through. no need to wonder if you’re gonna get kicked out of all your classes and whatnot. but do try to pay early or on time (i say, as i know full well i’ll watch the deadline inch up on me and make absolutely no move to do anything about it).

be Boundless,

aska

how do you pay the tuition costs? and when? do they send you a bill?

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hey,

fees! always a good time. not really. this is me trying to deal with my issues through positivity and i can tell ya it’s not working very well.

to check out how much you owe the uni and pay your tuition, you’ll want to log into ACORN. i’m assuming you have yet to do so, just cos if you’ve been on your ACORN you wouldn’t have this question. just make sure you have your utorid and password and you’re good to go!

once you get into ACORN, smack dab in the bottom right corner in a REAL big box is the ‘finances’ section. it’ll really conveniently tell you how much you owe– and if you click the ‘invoice’ section you’ll be able to see how that sum breaks down into things like tuition, incidental fees, and res fees if you’ve got them. and if you click the ‘make a payment’ button, there’s a section walking you through how that works.

some things you should know:

• there’s usually a deadline for payments. it’s not til september-ish (i can’t remember right now, but rest assured it’s not soon).
• a lot of people flip out if they pay on or just after the deadline, and don’t see any updates or confirmation from the school. they think they’re gonna get kicked out. they’re wrong. there’s a 10 business day grace period after the deadline, during which the university will wait to receive your payment without any consequences. if you ever have friends with this issue, please tell them to chill and hold off on visiting their registrar. if you ever have this issue, rest assured that all will be okay as long as your payment is in before the end of that period.
• if you’ve got scholarships, osap, etc. you can defer payment. this basically means you’re allowed to register without paying, but still need to pay as soon as you’re able.
• please, please! pay your incidental fees this year. i dunno how political i’m allowed to be here, but the ontario government is introducing a student choice initiative that basically makes fees optional if they’re going towards non-essential university groups/services.

i’m a lil worried that a bunch of people, especially first years who aren’t sure what’s happening, will opt out of these fees. but guys, they’re so important. so many of the student groups i’m familiar with on campus are bracing themselves for a challenging year– many don’t know what kind of resources they’ll have. these are the groups advocating for our rights as students– things like the utsu, or the varsity. we need the resources, transparency, and positive change these organizations enable. food banks, disability services, and sexual assault counselling are among the other things this opt-out puts at risk.

we may not be able to scrap the initiative directly, but we can pay our fees. the varsity literally costs us like two bucks, which is already one of the lowest student paper incidental fees across canada.  this has been a psa! not what you asked, sorry sorry, but i feel like it was important to throw in.

anyway, hope this was helpful! as always, best of luck with first year and all.

over n out,

aska