The first phenomenon that explains this gap is the distance that francophone students outside Quebec have to travel to study at a francophone institution.
There are 97 universities in Canada, and the Association des collèges et universités de la francophonie canadienne has 22 member institutions.
In some provinces, there is only one francophone institution. In Alberta, the University of Alberta's Campus Saint-Jean is the only francophone institution. The same goes for the Collège de l'Île in Prince Edward Island.
As a result, students who want to study in French have no choice but to travel and pay much higher costs than students who want to study in English at the University of Alberta, which may be on the corner of their street. In addition, Campus Saint-Jean does not offer graduate programs in French.
Therefore, the costs associated with the decision to study in French, whether at a bachelor's or graduate level, are higher.