№ 1
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
★ BEST CARDS FOR UNDERGRADUATES272 CANADA CARDS TRACKEDDEEP-RESEARCHED · SOURCED · NO BIAS
Best For — Undergraduate students
The best credit cards for undergraduates in Canada
For undergraduate students, the best cards are first student cards for undergrads — approval on limited or no income with proof of enrollment, no annual fee, and rewards on dining, transit, and streaming that fit campus life. We track 272 Canada cards.
The profile
Who this guide is for
- You're an undergraduate with limited or no income
- This is your first card and you can show enrollment
- You want no annual fee and forgiving approval
- Rewards on dining, transit, and streaming fit your spending
The shortlist
Top cards for undergraduates in Canada
Researched · pending editorial review7 researched
High — earn rates and fee confirmed across 5+ independent 2026 sources including two aggregator site fetches confidence
№ 2
CIBC
Visa
CIBC Dividend Visa Card for Students
No stated minimum income.
- C$0/yr annual fee
- Cash Back card
Annual feeC$0per year
№ 3
RBC
Avion Rewards
RBC ION Visa
RBC's only genuinely fee-free entry point to the Avion ecosystem — no conditions to track, unlike the ION+ upgrade below.
- Entertainment card
□ 2 sources
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
№ 4
Scotiabank
Scene+
Scotiabank Scene+ Visa Card for Students
Ranks behind the pure cash-back picks because the grocery bonus is banner-specific (Sobeys-family stores only, not all grocers) rather than universal.
- Dining card
□ 2 sources
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
№ 5
PC Financial (Loblaw)
Mastercard
PC Mastercard
The most permissive approval bar researched for this persona: no minimum income and no credit-history requirement of any kind, more lenient than even the bank-branded 'for Students' cards above, which still run a standard (if lenient) application review. This is the realistic option for a first-year student with zero Canadian financial footprint, or one who gets declined elsewhere — and unlike a pure secured or guaranteed-approval card, it still earns genuine (if modest) rewards rather than nothing.
- Points card
□ 3 sources
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
№ 6
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
№ 7
Annual fee—Fee not confirmed
Research pick
Method
How we picked
These picks come from dedicated research for undergraduate students, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank. Business cards appear only on business guides, student cards only on student guides, and prepaid cards on none. A figure we do not hold is shown as “Not confirmed”, never as a zero. Each researched shortlist is marked as pending editorial review until the site's editor approves it.
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Questions
Frequently asked
What is the best credit card for undergraduate students in Canada?
The best card for undergraduate students in Canada depends on your exact spending and credit. The shortlist above holds 7 cards for this profile, each chosen because it fits undergraduate students: first student cards for undergrads — approval on limited or no income with proof of enrollment, no annual fee, and rewards on dining, transit, and streaming that fit campus life.
How did you choose these cards for undergraduate students?
These picks come from dedicated research for undergraduate students, which drew on issuers' published terms and independent sources — listed under “sources” on each pick. The order is the research's. Every fee, welcome offer and earn rate shown on a pick is the figure our catalogue holds for that card, the same one its card page shows. Nothing here is pay-to-rank.
Why do some cards show no annual fee figure?
Because we hold no confirmed figure for it. Our fee column used to default to zero, and many cards still carry a zero that no check has confirmed — so a zero on its own cannot be told apart from a field nobody filled in, and printing “C$0” there would invent a price. A card shows a fee where a positive one is on record, or where a zero was confirmed against the issuer's terms; otherwise the slot reads “Not confirmed”, and the issuer's own page is the place to check before you apply.
How are these cards ranked?
In the research's order. The figures on each pick come from our catalogue, and each card's review page marks which of them a published document states.