By Harsh Kumar

Despite a domestic tuition freeze in Ontario, the real cost of attending Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) keeps climbing as students face rising living expenses. 

This year, housing fees increased by four per cent and with mandatory meal plans going up five per cent, according to TMU Housing and Residence Life. The cost of ancillary charges, including health services and athletics, increased 2.8 per cent in line with Toronto’s consumer price index, the university’s 2025–26 budget shows. 

Meanwhile, food prices across Canada are forecast to rise three to five per cent in 2025, according to the Canada Food Price Report. A recent survey by Embark, a provider of registered education savings plans, shows that amid economic uncertainty, nearly half of Canadian parents say it has affected their ability to save for their children’s education.

Students at TMU are feeling the squeeze as the rising cost of food, housing and ancillary costs make attending university in downtown Toronto increasingly expensive.  

Farshid Jamal, a fourth-year graphics communications management student at TMU, talks about being priced out of some athletic activities amidst rising costs. 

“I wanted to be a part of the callisthenics club at TMU but I realized the membership would be a little too high,” said Jamal. 

The cost of athletics and recreation fees has gone up from $257.22 last year to $264.45 this year. 

Jamal also mentions how the rising cost of food has made it more difficult for some students to enjoy a meal near campus.  “$20 only gets you a decent-sized meal but back then would get you a lot more than a meal, you’d be stuffed,” he said. 

Jamal, who works at a grocery store part-time, has also noticed the rising costs of shopping for groceries. 

“I do look at the prices of ground meat and realize the prices are genuinely getting out of hand,” he said. 

A report from Statistics Canada has found the per-kilogram price of ground beef is now $14.78, which is up 14 per cent from the price of $12.98 in September of last year.

Deeya Nassereddine, a third-year business management student at TMU, has noticed that something as simple as coffee has increased in cost. 

“Coffee is not cheap anymore, I just went to Tim’s and my coffee was five dollars when it used to be two dollars,” said Nassereddine. 

Much of the increase in the cost of living is felt by the international student community at TMU. They have not received the same tuition freeze as domestic students, on top of Toronto’s rising living costs. 

Karim Elima Daoud, a third-year business management student at TMU, said, “living here in the past year, it is definitely very expensive to be an international student. I think that is very reflective in the tuition fees that we pay.” 

According to an emailed statement to The Eyeopener, the university explains that it faces revenue constraints similar to other Ontario institutions, driven by limited government funding, inflation and enrolment changes. 

“Our objective remains to implement a responsible budget that manages this uncertainty while focusing on strategic priorities, such as student experience, academic quality, financial support, and the safety of our community,” the statement reads.

Carolina Aragao, a researcher and economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, has looked at some of the issues facing post-secondary education in Ontario. 

Through her work, she has found severe shortfalls in funding for post-secondary education in Ontario. While other provinces fund 60 per cent of operating revenue for schools, in Ontario, that number is 25 per cent. 

“Ontario is the province that has the lowest per capita investment in post-secondary education in Canada, so universities in Ontario…receive significantly less funding than other provincial governments,” said Aragao. 

While International students made up for some of the lack of funding, changes in immigration policy have only exacerbated the issue.  

“Universities have used a lot of the enrollment tuition as a source of revenue, which is also now drying up,” said Aragao.