Skip to main content

This is how much tuition at the University of Toronto would cost you in 1917

A University of Toronto tuition receipt from 1917 is seen here. (Digital Archive Ontario) A University of Toronto tuition receipt from 1917 is seen here. (Digital Archive Ontario)
Share
TORONTO -

Post-secondary education in Canada isn’t cheap, and an archived tuition receipt from over 100 years ago shows just how much prices have increased since then.

In a post to social media Thursday, the Toronto Public Library shared an image of the document from the year 1917.

The receipt, for one F.N. Walker, shows that the University of Toronto student paid a whopping $150 for a degree in medicine, plus $2 to student council.

According to the Toronto Public Library, that evens out to roughly $1,600 in today’s dollar.

That’s a far cry from the going rate of $23,090 that domestic MD students can expect to pay this fall at the university — and that’s only for the first year.

This vintage receipt is one of many found on Digital Archive Ontario.

Curated by the Toronto Public Library, they say the publically-accessible service can offer “glimpses of past items purchased, the prices of goods and what was deemed important to record.”

Other records available include deposits, donations, purchases and subscriptions and can all be viewed for here.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49

A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.

Stay Connected