Differential Fee Waivers (DFWs) for International Students
Differential Fee Waivers cover the difference between International Tuition and Quebec Resident Tuition fees.
External DFWs – Bilateral Between Québec and Other Governments
External DFWs, or Quebec Exemptions, are available from a number of external sources, including the Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur (MEES).Â
Québec government grants DFWs to staff and dependants of consulates, foreign government offices, international governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, refugees, immigrants with a work permit containing the case type 07, 08, 20, 22, 23 or 26 with the name of an employer and location that is necessarily situated in Québec, and to students in MEES-approved inter-university exchanges.
Please note that only 20% of the exemptions for a given country or agency can be used in English universities in Québec, including À¦°óSMÉçÇø.
Students sponsored by a foreign agency holding an agreement with À¦°óSMÉçÇø (CONACyT, Islamic Development Bank, etc.) are required to apply to Quebec exemptions if they hold citizenship from an eligible country, with the exception of CSC recipients. China Scholarship Council (CSC) recipients are no longer required to apply for External DFWs. They will still receive the funding that was offered to them when they applied for CSC. However, they are strongly encouraged to apply for FRQ funding after their first year of studies at À¦°óSMÉçÇø.
Eligibility
A certain number of citizens from countries whose governments have entered into agreements on tuition fees with Québec may be exempted from the supplemental tuition fees normally required of international students. All French citizens and a limited number of citizens from other countries who have established such agreements are eligible for such exemptions.
For more information on how to qualify for DFWs under these provisions, please visit theÂ
How to Apply
- Determine whether there are bilateral exemptions for your country, by consulting the .
- If your country or affiliated agency has a bilateral exemption, contact the .
- Apply to the country or agency by that agency's deadline (the agency will inform you of its specific deadline).
- After their own selection process, the country will nominate their selected candidates to the Québec government, who will in turn perform the final selection, and inform the candidate and the University.
Internal DFWs
Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies allocates DFWs to À¦°óSMÉçÇø faculties for international Doctoral students, and exceptionally to international Thesis Master’s students for each academic year. Only international students who are allocated a DFW, by their respective faculties, are exempt from the international tuition supplement.
Eligibility
Registration Requirements
If a student withdraws or is withdrawn from the University during the eligibility period, the DFW may be revoked. Removal of the DFW will result in the student having to pay full international student fees for the term in question.