monthly expenses for international student

My accommodations are pretty different from what the typical undergraduate would be going for, since I'm an older graduate student and I live in the suburbs while commuting to campus (or at least, I did in the before-times). Living on campus might be best. I don't know what rents are like around UBC, but I live 30km away and a poor-quality studio (bachelor) apartment is at least $1200/month.

Transport - Pre-pandemic, I spent about $100-200 on car shares (Evo and Modo serve dual purposes) to get around Vancouver for small trips and longer road trips. We have a heavily discounted transit pass included in tuition fees that covers public transport within Vancouver and the surrounding suburbs. I was able to transfer my international license to Canada, but they probably have different regulations depending on the country. If this is important you could look up the process on ICBC's website, but I was able to join both of those share programs before switching to a BC license.

Food - About $200-300 a month for groceries. If eating out more frequently than once a week, this could easily be closer to $500.

Phone and Internet - We have extremely high cell phone plans in Canada, but I pay about $55/month for mine after tax. I consider this to be on the cheaper side of what's available with good data coverage. Internet may be covered in rent, but if not, can range between $60-100 a month depending on the plan and provider.

Health care - I believe the charge for this is $75/month except for permanent residents and citizens. Tuition fees cover extended health coverage (vision, dental, therapy, massage, etc.) whereas Medical Services Plan (state coverage of basic benefits paid for by that fee) cover doctor and hospital visits as well as most prescriptions.

Discretionary spending - $100-300 personally, but I live a frugal life and get most of my entertainment from the Internet or going outside on hikes.

When I was a poor international undergraduate, I had one year where I had $100 leftover each month after my rent was paid. It was awful but doable with the help of the student food bank. Budgeting $1,000 a month outside of rent and tuition affords a pretty comfortable existence but is certainly not required. Hope this helps.

/r/UBC Thread