diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_email.py b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_email.py
index 76a9848b5145448299e8ae421ade2c729e564586..5089596d909c4ab245152cbfe9fd6082a7fd909d 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_email.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/tests/test_email.py
@@ -479,7 +479,7 @@ class EmailChangeConfirmationTests(EmailTestMixin, EmailTemplateTagMixin, CacheI
         response = confirm_email_change(self.request, self.key)
         self.assertEqual(response.status_code, 200)
         self.assertEquals(
-            mock_render_to_response(expected_template, expected_context).content,
+            mock_render_to_response(expected_template, expected_context).content.decode('utf-8'),
             response.content.decode('utf-8')
         )