Co-op student earnings

Co-op students must be paid at least the minimum wage of the applicable work location.

When you submit a co-op job in our WaterlooWorks recruitment system, you’ll include compensation and benefit information for the position. You can enter a salary amount, range, or any other details that might help inform students as they make application decisions.

Contact us with any questions you have about salary guidance.  

Funding, tax credits and grants are available. 

Need help financing your new student hire? There are several grants, tax credits and funding programs available to Canadian employers that may subsidize or cover the cost of your hire, regardless of your business size. Explore our  funding opportunities webpage to learn more. 


Undergraduate Canadian hourly earnings information

The University of Waterloo publishes co-op student earnings information annually. We’ve compiled the following information using student-reported earnings from 2022. 

In the tables below, the top figure represents the average hourly earnings for the given co-op program and work term level. The low and high of the hourly salary range is included below the average hourly earnings. 

This information is intended as a guideline. Use it, along with known market conditions, for informational purposes only. Our co-operative education team does not establish or recommend pay levels for co-op students. The data is for Canadian work terms and reported in Canadian dollars. 

All Canadian work term data reported in Canadian dollars.
Faculty or program Work
term 1
Work
term 2
Work
term 3
Work
term 4
Work
term 5
Work
term 6
Faculty of Arts $19.70
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $31.75

$21.30
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $32.00

$22.25
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $36.00

$23.10
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $36.00

$22.75
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $40.00

N/A
Faculty of Engineering (including Software Engineering) $19.75
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $30.00

$21.95
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $39.00

$23.95
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $40.00

$25.70
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $45.00

$27.75
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $50.00

$29.40
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $50.00

Faculty of Engineering - Architecture $19.60
(average)

Low: $15.50
High: $25.00

$21.64
(average)

Low: $17.00
High: $26.00

$21.84
(average)

Low: $18.00
High: $27.00

$22.25
(average)

Low: $18.00
High: $28.00

$22.40
(average)

Low: $18.00
High: $28.00

$22.25
(average)

Low: $17.50
High: $30.00

Faculty of Environment $18.48
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $27.00

$20.06
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $28.10

$20.90
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $30.70

$22.26
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $31.00

$23.20
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $32.00

N/A
Faculty of Health $16.70
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $22.50

$17.75
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $27.00

$18.30
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $28.00

$18.50
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $28.00

$19.10
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $28.00

N/A
Faculty of Mathematics (including Computer Science and Computing & Financial Management) $21.25
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $36.60

$23.85
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $40.95

$26.80
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $52.50

$28.80
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $55.00

$31.02
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $56.00

$33.60
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $60.00

Faculty of Mathematics - Actuarial Science $22.49
(average)

Low: $16.00
High: $28.65

$22.82
(average)

Low: $15.25
High: $30.80

$26.15
(average)

Low: $18.90
High: $34.30

$28.05
(average)

Low: $21.00
High: $34.65

$30.12
(average)

Low: $21.50
High: $38.00

$32.02
(average)

Low: $21.00
High: $40.00

Faculty of Science $18.10
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $25.00

$19.40
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $28.00

$19.84
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $33.00

$21.12
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $30.00

$21.73
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $31.25

N/A
Faculty of Science - Pharmacy $18.05
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $25.00

$19.24
(average)

Low: $15.50
High: $26.00

$19.58
(average)

Low: $15.00
High: $32.00

N/A N/A N/A

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Graduate Canadian hourly earnings information

All Canadian work term data is reported in Canadian Dollars for data collected from January to December 2022
Faculty Master's students
Arts
(Master of Arts,
Master of Public Service)
$22.86
(average)

Low: $16.50
High: $35.00

Engineering
(Master of Applied Science,
Master of Management Sciences,
Master of Architecture)
$26.25
(average)

Low: $16.50
High: $40.00

Mathematics
(Master of Mathematics,
Master of Data Science and
Artificial Intelligence)
$32.68
(average)

Low: $18.00
High: $50.00

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Additional student earnings information

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Other co-op earnings information