<p>I saw a bit about this on world news tonight on TV. It was suggested that an American student gets 4 years of college in Canada for the price of one here. It's probably old news to some of you but I'm fascinated.</p>
<p>Seems too good to be true. I'm guessing that Canadian Govt. subsidies the colleges there.</p>
<p>Just wondering what folk out there think.</p>
<p>For the price of ‘1’ here where? There’s a huge variation in the cost of colleges in the USA. Example - USC vs UC vs CSU</p>
<p>Most, if not all, states (taxpayers) subsidize their state colleges.</p>
<p>[Fees</a> | Housing - McGill University](<a href=“http://www.mcgill.ca/students/housing/downtown-undergrad/fees/]Fees”>http://www.mcgill.ca/students/housing/downtown-undergrad/fees/)
[Student</a> Accounts - McGill University](<a href=“| Student Accounts - McGill University”>| Student Accounts - McGill University)</p>
<p>According to McGill’s website, tuition and fees for internationals is about 16k, room is 8-11k. It didn’t mention meal plans, so I guess that might be extra. It seems like minimum cost would be 24k plus meals and books, about the cost of many state flagships. </p>
<p>I saw the story on the news. Technically it’s correct, but when you look at total cost of attendance it’s a little different.</p>
<p>I saw that story and know a kid who is at a Canadian university.</p>
<p>I have a co-worker with a son at a Canadian University and he’s told me that he’s saving money but I don’t have specifics. He’s mentioned that you should factor in traveling costs, their VAT tax and some funny telecommunication rules that they have there but he’s told me that it has been a good experience for his son. Also, our state is pretty bad at funding public universities.</p>
<p>I’m not sure whether his school is public or private.</p>
<p>I have Canadian relatives, and I know several kids (including my daughter’s BFF) who have gone to Toronto or McGill. Both of them are world-class universities (as is Waterloo, at least in tech fields, and maybe UBC, too). They are in the mode of first-rate large U.S. public universities – maybe not quite comparable to Berkeley or Michigan, but say Wisconsin, Texas, Washington. They aren’t about keeping kids out, or being hyperselective. They give an opportunity to lots of kids, some of whom flunk out, some of whom just get by, and some of whom get themselves really fine educations. Toronto, McGill, and UBC are all in exciting, cosmopolitan cities, and attract students from all over the world, including lots of Americans. Kids I know had fabulous experiences there, and others disliked them, and transferred out.</p>
<p>They aren’t anywhere near 1/4 as cheap as US colleges, at least for US students. Financial aid for US students is not available, and merit aid is limited. But, all in, their cost is pretty comparable to in-state prices at lots of top public universities in the states. They are definitely an option more US students should consider.</p>
<p>Our Guidance Counselor recommended Vancouver BC for my daughter. But, you have to be careful entering as a freshman because you have to be 19. If I remember correctly (a little fuzzy now) you have to obtain a legally documented ‘chaperone’ to get a student visa and enroll at the university.</p>
<p>We had to rule it out because D will still be 17 entering freshman year, although it was a reasonably priced option.</p>
<p>I know someone who started at McGill in the fall at age 17. You are right, it isn’t quite as straight forward as it is for an 18 year old. (Both need the equivalent of student visas). The 17 year old also needs to designate someone as their chaperone. I think the universities know what to do in these cases. There is some standard procedure, I just can’t recall what it is. In addition, a 17 year old can’t cross the border on their own, they need a parent or the designated chaperone.</p>
<p>I worked for a graduate of University of Waterloo who went on to get a phD in physics from Cal Tech. He encouraged his daughter, a dual US-Canadian citizen, to look into Canadian schools as possible, extremely high quality, safety schools. Two years later I asked him if he’d recommend that to an American citizen, and he said no. He explained that it would be difficult to build up a work history at Canadian institutions for non citizens, and although their immigration policies are extremely lenient, that’s for people that already have the (highly technical) degrees. </p>
<p>College in Canada is highly subsidized by the government, and institutions keep their prices so low because they don’t offer near the number of amenities that most comparable American universities do. At many campuses, on campus student life is rather limited, but I don’t believe that’s the case at UBC, UToronto, or Mount Allison. The top Canadian universities are also much more heavily commuter than the top American institutions, partially owing to their locations, lack of extreme selectivity (many more non traditional students than say UCLA or Wisconsin), and missions. That being said, most of the top schools have a huge number of on campus students, so they’re not like CSU Fullerton or other schools that empty out after 5pm.</p>
<p>My D was accepted to McGill back when we were deciding on colleges. One thing to keep in mind as mentioned before, is that college campus life is different than at US colleges. For example, dorms are limited and only available to freshmen. After that, they had to seek an apartment. My D actually liked this idea as it was more grown up than living on campus and the price seemed right. Also Montreal and learning French was a big appeal. Not sure how the job prospects would have been at graduation as she would have liked to stay in Montreal. </p>
<p>However, at the end of it all, she fell in love with UNC and closed that chapter. </p>
<p>I think I remember you could get FAFSA unsubsidized student loans to help finance your tuition.</p>
<p>“According to McGill’s website, tuition and fees for internationals is about 16k, room is 8-11k. It didn’t mention meal plans, so I guess that might be extra. It seems like minimum cost would be 24k plus meals and books, about the cost of many state flagships.”</p>
<p>That is only true for non STEM or business majors like Faculty of Arts, and it is actually 18k last year and will go up again for next year. If it is Science, Engineering or Business, it is going to be about 32k next year for tuition and fee. For room and board, add approximately another 12k. Montreal apartment or even university housing is quite expensive. 4-5 years ago, it was a lot cheaper but now with a lot of budget cuts by the government and deregulation of international tuition fee, McGill has brought the price up to be comparable with most American schools. They say exactly that on their Student Account web page.</p>
<p>If you are Canadian residence, yes it is quite unbelievably cheap. Not any more for American or International students.</p>
<p>there are two threads about this, maybe they can be combined?</p>
<p>I just looked at U Toronto tuition cost on their website, and as a sample, the tuition and fee for Science/Engineering for international students entering year 2013 is $35.9k without room and board. I don’t know about other Canadian schools, but I am beginning to think the idea of cheap Canadian college is quickly becoming long past practice.</p>
<p>[Tuition</a> Fee Schedule 2013-14](<a href=“http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/link/students/fees14]Tuition”>http://www.provost.utoronto.ca/link/students/fees14)</p>
<p>Canadia used to be a good buy for students from US but the dollar exchange rate has not been in the Americans favor for sometime.</p>
<p>[Lower</a> costs lure U.S. college students to Canada, UK | McClatchy](<a href=“http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/10/30/173100/lower-costs-lure-us-college-students.html]Lower”>http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/10/30/173100/lower-costs-lure-us-college-students.html)</p>
<p>They’re comparing costs at UBC to NYU & George Washington.
Why not public to public?</p>
<p>"Why not public to public? "</p>
<p>To sensationalize instead of inform?</p>
<p>Public-to-public, I don’t think the good Canadian universities will look like a price bargain vs. in-state flagships for most people in the U.S. There are some states where the prices are still fairly close, however – including Pennsylvania, where I live, and I believe New York – and from the standpoint of faculty quality, student quality, and across-the-board academic strength, some of the Canadian universities will look better than in-state publics.</p>
<p>If they are raising the Science/Engineering prices to that extent, however, that’s clearly not competitive for U.S. students. For a humanities or social science oriented kid, however, they can still be pretty good deals. The kids I know who went recently and had good experiences majored in archaeology, philosophy, and Slavic languages. Two of them went directly from college to top-5 U.S. PhD programs in their respective fields. And for the one who went to McGill, living off-campus (but near campus) in Montreal was one of the best parts of college.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m Canadian; my son will be in University in 2014 and I’ve been comparing HYPM to Waterloo (computer science). With the Financial Aid for International students, I figure for HYPM we’d get about $25K in aid, therefore our cost would be $35K. Waterloo (tuition, living expenses) would be less than $25K (tuition is $10K for computer science; $6K for math) so the difference between Canada/Waterloo and HYPM is about $10K per year. I can live with that, due to the financial aid.</p>
<p>Waterloo has the largest co-op program in the world (16K students) and students earn over $10K per work term (4 months) and they take 6 co-op sessions overall- thus it takes 5 years to get the 4 year degree. I hear many students graduate with cash in the bank (they get entrance scholarships as well; it is very competitive to get into STEM or cs) and several job offers on hand. So it is our #1 Canadian choice. (U of Toronto is #2; we live close enough to commute, but I prefer he live on campus for the experience and growth). </p>
<p>We have saved about $90K in RESPs (registered education savings plan) for our 2 kids combined; so if my son does the Waterloo co-op route; he will not require using his “half” of the RESP funding therefore leaving extra left for his sister; which is a better route for my family. i.e. I figure with us still adding to the RESP, plus growth, we have about $15K per year per 4 years per 2 kids and will still run short for daughter and will need to fund the difference. I do expect my kids to get some entrance scholarships ($2-4K per year) and provide what they can from summer jobs.</p>
<p>However MIT is rated #1 in the world for Computer Science, so we will continue our reach for it. </p>
<p>My own personal belief is that I am willing and able to pay for my kids education as my legacy to them, whether it be Canadian or a top notch US Ivy/MIT even if we need spend beyond what we have in our education savings. But I won’t pay for a wedding and I don’t intend to leave them much of an estate when I pass on.</p>