Canada or the US?

So I have a dual citizenship for Canada as well as the United States. I am trying to figure out whether I should stay in the United States for my post-secondary education or move to Canada and get my education there. How comparable are the different education systems and is one better than the other? I have heard that the costs of going to school in Canada are cheaper and I know the environment is much nicer. However, I do love Washington, where I currently reside, and I am having a tough time making up my mind. Any comments?

US education in general is better AFAIK. However, how much can you pay per year?

You should apply to both sides of the border and see which ones is the best ROI or the best “fit”.
American colleges, overall, will allow you to explore before you choose a major. In Canada, you’ll apply to a specific major and only take classes in that major. In addition, most Canadian universities are commuter or at least “non residential”. Some American universities are like that, but there are also many “intentionally/intensively residential” colleges where living on campus is factored into the whole “college experience”.

I’m looking for a cost of as little as possible, in the range of about ten thousand per year. What does AFAIK stand for? Is there any evidence to support that the U.S. Has a better education than Canada

I think Paul meant that American colleges enjoy a wider reputation, more global prestige, and more resources than Canadian universities.
AFAIK = As far as I know
ROI = return on investment

Ten thousand a year will cover tuition in Canada, but not room and board, books and other living expenses.

Have you ever lived in Canada? If so, you may be eligible for government assistance at the provincial level.

Oh okay. I have not actually ever lived in Canada however I visit quite frequently and I do have my citizenship. I am looking into living in my own instead of on campus if I do go to Canada and it seems to still be cheaper than the tuition of an American college

The good Canadian universities are truly world class, and the lesser universities are no worse than the not-top-tier institutions in the US. Graduating from a Canadian university will probably make it easier for you to find work there, but it won’t impede any career advances in the US should you decide to move back here after working a year or two.

All the Canadian parents I know who have dual-status kids encourage their kids to apply in Canada because of the lower cost of education there. Some kids end up studying in Canada, some end up studying in the US. All of them end up being pretty happy with their experiences, and their post-college lives. You really have no bad choices here.

I’d encourage you to look at colleges and universities on both sides of the border, and to apply to whichever ones appeal to you and show evidence of being affordable for your family. After you have your acceptances in hand, and you know which really are affordable, that would be the time to worry whether X is better than Y.

What would you like to study?
By and large, American universities have more administrators that serve the students. In Canada, the students have to take more initiatives on their own. Canadian tuition fees are generally lower than the US (in-state). Professional opportunities after graduation are more numerous in the US - bigger economy. However, for a given major, the ranking of a university in the US has a higher correlation to the number of recruiters that recruit on campus, meaning: higher the prestige of a university–> more the recruiters on campus. In Canada, it is not that obvious, as long as the universities are located in major Canadian Provinces (States), and are fairly well known. They do not seem to be hung up on prestige. Note this is a just an observation; others may have more concrete evidence to prove or disprove this observation.
Although over the lifetime, Canadians may pay higher taxes, they have better social services like affordable healthcare, access to higher education etc.

I would like to double major in pre-vet studies and psychology or study and become fluent in French. I hope with those degrees to go to a business school after I graduate and then finish vet medicine and get my doctorates

Since you are planning to attend graduate school after your undergraduate degree, and the cost of attendance of which will be much higher, financially it may be better to focus on your state universities & Canadian universities. Considering that you are from the state of Washington, the universities in the provinces of British Columbia & Alberta would be geographically closer.
For learning French, 3 anglophone universities in the province of Quebec would be good bets.
As always, apply to your state universities - as possible safeties.

Are there any notable colleges you can think of within Canada or Washington that you would recommend I should apply to? Also, do Canadian colleges offer merit-based scholarships or need-based scholarships? What would be my chances of getting either of these?

Canada: On the west coast:
University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, University of Victoria - All in the state of British Columbia.
University of Alberta

For learning French & one that is very highly ranked: McGill

There are other universities that you may want to investigate based on your situation. The following link needs subscription to Canada’s Maclean’s magazine ratings; ask your library to see if you can use their library system to access these for free, or request them to do a search for you.
http://www.macleans.ca/education/unirankings/

Also look up on Canadian universities’ web sites to assess how each university converts American GPA to their equivalent grade.

For need as well as merit based scholarships, please talk with someone from the university’s UG admissions that coordinates admissions from US universities. Their response time to e-mail queries may take longer. Skype might be cheaper if you don’t have long distance Canada phone call plan. Policies change, and it is better to get the latest information from them.

State of Washington:
University of Washington, Seattle
http://opb.washington.edu/content/common-data-set
Select & download “Reporting year 2014-2015”, refer to Page CDS-C, section C9 for profile of incoming freshmen. Compare your scores against the percentile in each score range.
Estimate the cost of attendance, net price calculator: http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/prospectiveug/aid.est.1.html

Washington State University
http://ir.wsu.edu/Common+Data+Set
Same, select & download common data set 2014-105. …
Net Price Calculator: http://finaid.wsu.edu/cost-of-attendance/npc/

There are forums for many of the universities on this site.
Good luck.

UNiversity of Ottawa offers a half tuition scholarship to anyone who takes 3 classes in French (they offer many subjects, but business is very popular). You can live in Gatineau, accross the bridget, which is French-speaking and a college town (or a town with LOTS of students).

American higher ed is so diverse that you can’t really generalize.

Some colleges allow you to explore, but at other schools (mainly publics), they admit by major and it may be hard/almost impossible to switch in to a popular major.
You have LACs and RUs. All-residential, commute schools, and everything in-between.
Some rich privates (and a handful of richer publics like UMich) provide many services while some American colleges are more bare-bones or sink-or-swim.

Canadian unis remind me of American state schools, ranging from pretty much the top (McGill/Toronto/UBC are comparable to UMich/UVa/UNC/UCLA/UW-Madison/UT-Austin and Waterloo is akin to Cal/UIUC/GTech) to below.
However they tend to be more homogenous, with almost all being sink-or-swim with high faculty-student ratios, large classes, and less advising/support. Mt. Allison is the one LAC I know of in Canada.