Where students are going for high-quality, affordable education
October 8, 2009 by Geneva ReidPosted in: Admissions & Financial Aid, Enrollment, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Interested in attending a college that won’t put them in a financial hole, an increasingly large number of college students are heading in one particular direction.
And that direction is north – specifically, Canada.
In the 2007-08 academic year, 8,200 U.S. students have attended Canadian universities, according to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. Ten years ago, the number was less than half that – 3,312.
And for the current year, the Canadian embassy in Washington says 10,000 American students will attend schools in Canada.
The reason? They’ll be getting a quality education at a price that’s more affordable than in the U.S.
For example, the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia are two of Canada’s most expensive schools. Their tuition, room and board total about $30,000. McGill University in Montreal comes to about $21,000. And there are Canadian schools that are less well known that cost less than $20,000.
Compare that to the $50,000 a year bill students face at many private American colleges and universities.
And then there’s the admission process at Canadian schools. Essays? Interviews? Forget about it. Most colleges look at high school grades and perhaps SAT/ACT scores.
When you throw in a drinking age of 18, it sounds like Canadian schools may have exactly what it takes to attract American students.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Tags: Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, McGill University, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto
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October 7th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
My son has begun studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. It is too soon to comment on the quality of his experience, but I can say that total costs are definitely less than private colleges in the US, and are similar to that of out-of-state public institutions.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Why not study abroad? It opens up new opportunities to students, teaches them about a different culture than their own, in this case, it seems to save them money, too. But I wonder if Canadian colleges/universities are plagued with some of the same issues we have: equity and inclusion of PT faculty? Does Canada have “adjunct or contingent workers?
October 8th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
My son just started at Queen’s Commerce program in Kingston, Ontario in September 2009. It is a very challenging program, well-respected in Canada and the rest of the world. I find I have to describe Queen’s to almost all of my American acquaintances, but admittedly, I don’t know every school in the US either. The price difference between US and Canadian schools is quite substantial but so far I think the quality is very good in spite of the lower cost. Canadian colleges, however, do not coddle to students and many American students and their parents might have some trouble adjusting to the Canadian system’s “Sink or swim” attitude.
October 14th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Intgeresting that the comparison is made between Canadian public universities and US private ones. Most US state universities and colleges have costs for in-state students that are much lower than the Canadian universities mentioned. And since when is an 18 year drinking age a good thing!
October 14th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
I have suggest to my daughter to look at Canadian schools. The drinking age wasn’t a factor in my recommendation, but there are many who suggest that lowering the drinking age to 18 would be a positive thing. See http://www.amethystinitiative.org/
October 14th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Culture that knows the cost of everything, and the value of nothing! The very fabric of society which these people feel they can comment on, is made up of a majority who understand little of the world in general, and even less specifically about what a real education consists in. Most of these people have been brought up in a culture of entitlement which is resulting in the blind, leading the blind, leading the blind. The people who are the supposed moral guides of their offspring haven’t got a clue anyway, so how can we/they expect their children to turn out any better. The role models of these students, in many instances, are nothing more than idiots with letters after their names, so they feel they are well qualified to comment. I have a little news for our well heeled “educated” populace, degrees have been for sale, in many forms, at different costs, for many years, and all that a degree signifies these days, generally, is a form of compliance. Compliance with the idea of knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:28 am
E. G Meyer wrote: “And since when is an 18 year drinking age a good thing!”
I answer: “Since we asked 18-year olds to do adult things – like serve in the military”.
Pus, it is the honest thing to do. What 18-year old who wants to, does not drink in college? If other countries can manage 18-year olds drinking, why can’t the US? Could it be the ceremony surrounding drinking that makes older teenegers overdo it?
October 15th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
You’ve got the drinking age wrong – it’s 19. It used to be 18, but that was changed long ago. I’m Canadian.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
For Aghast: could you clarify your comment? What made you feel that way? Only 5 folks had posted a comment before yours (on this thread). Are you upset that anyone bothers to comment at all to anything? Your post seems pretty general, but I would like more specifics.
In my case, I posted that I didn’t see anything wrong with learning about other cultures by studying abroad. Did I suggest something ludicrous and/or offensive? If so, how do you figure? How can you judge my level of education just from my brief comment?
And before you get upset, please know that I actually agree with you in broad terms, but only because I am also not satisfied with our current educational paradigm (sorry to use this word, but it is the one that best conveys my meaning). Thanks.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Another piece of evidence of how lightweight this publication is. It is an advertising piece cobbled together by an advertising company that does about 5 or 6 similar lightweight “focused” publications. Check it out.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
To check it out, Google PBP Media, or click on PBP Media at the bottom of this page.
October 15th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Irene,
My comment was not directed specifically at you, or your particular comment in this blog; it is directed at the very heart of the philosophy of Western education, or perhaps I should say, the lack of philosophy of education? Particularly in the US, which is regarded, by many who live outside of its borders and have no experience of the poor state of education in this country, as something of a “touchstone”. You ask, “What has made you feel that way”, and my answer is, a lifetime of working in educational establishments, both in the US, and also in Europe, where I have witnessed first-hand the political machinations of the establishment to organize a situation where our people are processed through what was once our education system, the primary purpose of which was to propagate knowledge, and whose primary purpose now is to advertise, recoup the money spent in that advertising, and then to make a profit. Education has become corrupted by business, the business of advertising and impressing, the game of superficiality, sadly education has lost it’s way. This also results in anything which may have an adverse effect on that profit as being left out of an education. Generally, our students are no longer being trained to be analytical, most cannot examine argument, divine facts, reason through problems. Probably, because this might affect the profit margin, as the students themselves might realize just what they are engaged in when they purchase their degrees so as to be able to “achieve higher lifetime income” rather than greater understanding and clarity of thought. Hence the election, TWICE, of a moron (graduate of Yale Law School) for president.
Why do you balk at using “paradigm”? However, you might be confused between an educational paradigm, and a business one, now which is it that you allude to?
Only in such a culture (or lack of culture) like that of the entitled Americans, would even the question of “drinking at 18″ make any difference to where one would go and “study”? Or have we started giving degrees now on how happy we keep our students/customers so more of those morons will give us their money and our profit margins will be even higher? Can we actually fail them now, as this isn’t seen as so good for the advertising for our next batch of customers, who are giving us their money, so we better make them happy?
Good God, get a grip!