Canadian universities are among the most respected in the world
Most have low cost of attendance (less expensive than US counterparts)
Canadian universities are very large
A lot of students and their families are justifiably concerned about the cost and quality of education in the United States. A hundred US colleges now have a cost of attendance (COA) exceeding $50,000; 2 years ago, only 5 did. Worse still, the price tag continues to escalate at around 4% per year, with no end in sight. Add to this state of affairs the revelations contained in the book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, which asserts, “36 percent of students ‘did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning’ over four years of college,” and you have every reason in the world to look elsewhere for alternative educational opportunities. The world, however, might very well be on your doorstep in the form of our Canadian neighbors to the north. Canadian universities have a high standard of educational rigor, their COA (depending on province) is lower, and most award degrees in three years, not the six, it seems to be taking at many US schools nowadays.
Be aware that Canadian universities are different from their US counterparts. In the US, the federal government has various programs such as FAFSA and Title IX that ensure some consistency among the university system. The Canadian universities, on the other hand, are funded and regulated by their provinces or territories. Consequently, there isn’t a lot of uniformity among Canadian universities. If you apply to the University of Toronto in Ontario, and McGill, in Quebec, you will use different applications, and confront different admission’s requirements (though both these universities, and most of the 88 others, do take SAT I, SAT II, ACT, and FAFSA forms) and have varying costs depending on your intended major.
One other minor note, educational terms and degrees are different in Canada than in the US. In Canada, ‘college’ means a two-year school, while ‘university’ refers to the 4-year school. Additionally, in Canada, many universities award a bachelor’s degree after completing 3 years of university. A student then needs another year to gain an Honors degree, which is essential for getting into graduate school.
There are 90 universities to choose among in Canada. Some are the most competitive and eminent in the world. McGill University in Montreal is ranked regularly among the top 20 universities in the world. University of Toronto, with a number of Nobel Prize winners among its faculty, has many elite departments. Additionally, professional studies in medicine, dentistry, and engineering, for example, start at the undergraduate level and lead to graduate school. Coursework is challenging and expectations are high.
The cost of university education, though certainly below that of comparable US universities, depends on where you choose to attend. It also depends upon what it is you’re majoring in. At the University of British Columbia, which is ranked 36th (ARWU) in the world, for international students, the COA is around $34,000 (again, it depends on major—and international students are not allowed to study dentistry or medicine). At McGill, in all honesty, just figuring out the COA can take 2-3 hours. Costs for international students vary dramatically by major, by meal plan, even by dormitory selected. Then, there are fees. Worse, the provincial government has set tuition rates to rise by 11% for the 2011-2012 year. No educational system in the world is without difficulties. Canada’s is no exception
Another concern, if a large campus intimidates you, Canadian schools are enormous. University of British Columbia has 20,000 undergraduates (about the size of Boston University); the University of Toronto, with its three campuses, enrolls just under 50,000 undergraduates.
If you’re intent on investigating the Canadian alternative, go to the website www.usstudentstocanada.com. There you’ll find two checklists for researching and reviewing all aspects of applying to a Canadian university. Most Canadian universities have big, safe, and in many instances, beautiful campuses; a lot of them have a COA that is a value. Currently, about 5,000 US undergraduate students attend Canadian universities; possibly you might want to join their ranks.