Hi Finance Newsletter:
3rd Edition

Paying for post-secondary education is expensive, but the tuition tax credit can help reduce how much tax you owe, or help you save credits for later. Here’s the short and clear version of how it works in Canada.

🎓 Tuition Tax Credits in Canada

The tuition tax credit is a non-refundable federal tax credit that lets students reduce their income tax by factoring in the tuition fees they’ve paid for eligible courses. It’s calculated by multiplying your eligible tuition fees by 15%.

If your total eligible costs were $1,000, here’s how you’d do the math:

$1,000 x 15% = $150

Then, you can deduct that $150 from the income tax you owe.

Because it’s non-refundable, it can only reduce your tax owed, it won’t create a refund on its own.

📌 What Is the Tuition Tax Credit?

To qualify:

  • You paid tuition to a recognized post-secondary institution in Canada (or in some cases abroad).

  • The tuition is more than $100 for the tax year.

  • You received a T2202 (Tuition and Enrolment Certificate) from your school. This is what you use to claim the credit.

    • The T2202 shows how much eligible tuition you paid and how many months you were enrolled full-time or part-time.

🪪 Who Can Claim It?

If you earned little to no taxable income this year (which is very common for almost all students), you might not be able to use the credits right away.

In that case, you have two options:

  1. Carry It Forward

    Unused tuition tax credits can be carried forward indefinitely and used in future years when you’re earning more income and owing taxes.

  2. Transfer to Family

    You can transfer up to $5,000 of your tuition credit (minus what you claimed for yourself) to a spouse, common-law partner, parent, or grandparent.

💡 What If You Don’t Owe Taxes?

  • Always claim all eligible tuition fees, even if you don’t need them this year, filing updates your CRA record so you can carry forward the credits later.

  • Download and keep your T2202 slip each year. The CRA might ask to verify it.

  • Don’t forget that provinces (other than Alberta) may also offer their own tuition credits (so the total benefit could be higher).

🧠 Quick Tips for Students

Last Updated: December 11th, 2025
Contributors: Zach Prusko, Kyle Le