Hello, I’m Canadian, got US citizenship last year and live in California. My junior daughter has expressed interest in going to college in Canada. I saw a posting somewhere on this website that made it look le my daughter could go to McGill (my alma mater) for 4,000$ per year. Could that be true?
Your daughter is a dual citizen. If she ** has never lived in Canada** she would qualify for the in province Quebec tuition rate of about C$4000.
If she has ever lived in Canada, then no. She would pay the out of province rate of about C$9000.
One thing to keep in mind: If your daughter was born in the US, then she will need a certificate of Canadian citizenship to get her Canadian passport, and will need the Canadian passport before she shows up to attend university in Canada. The certificate of Canadian citizenship can take quite a while to get. It took us about 9 months (we started early). The passport took approximately an additional two weeks.
If your daughter qualifies for “Canadian born abroad” status at McGill, then this is indeed a very good deal as @TomSrOfBoston has pointed out. However, when one daughter applied to McGill, she was not offered any scholarship. In contrast, when both daughters (who are dual citizens born in the US) applied to other universities in Canada they were offered merit scholarships. Thus as it turned out at least for us there wasn’t a big difference in price between the various schools in Canada. All were somewhat less than our in-state flagship here in the US (in spite of being offered a merit scholarship there also). As such, I would suggest considering several of the very good universities in Canada.
I do currently have a daughter at university in Canada, and so far she likes it a lot.
@TomSrOfBoston I’m curious about this “Canadian born abroad” status. I can’t seem to find mention of it on the McGill site. Could I trouble you to provide me with a link? Many thanks.
deleted (OBE by post #4)
Wow, what a strange loophole. Is it easy to take advantage of this?
Yes. Quebec doesn’t have enough residents to sustain their universities, so they rely on people from outside Quebec. By classifying Canadian citizens who have never lived in Canada as Quebec residents, they can keep their numbers up.
Sorry if I sound incredulous, but to what end do they want to keep the numbers up? Federal funding? McGill was already a bargain relative to the Boston schools my son has applied to. And now it appears I have a coupon code too!!
@Omegadoug, we are in the same boat, and it appears my D will be taking advantage of this amazing deal. She is giddy, and H and I are giddy about the price tag.
Are most, all or just some classes taught in French at McGill ? Also, doesn’t McGill require a French proficiency test for new students ? Thanks !
@Publisher McGill is an English language university. All programs are offered in English only except the Faculty of Law which is bilingual. There is no French proficiency requirement otherwise.
@bouders I doubt if that is the reason for the loophole. Quebec is the only province with an in province/out of province tuition split.
Classes are taught in English (aside from foreign language courses). Students have the option of submitting papers in English or French.
@TomSrOfBoston: Thank you. I must have been recalling requirements for the law school.
If you get a nice deal, why question it?
Though even the top Canadian publics are like American publics of a generation ago (and many American publics now): few amenities, sink or swim, huge lecture classes, tough grading.
For those unfamiliar with Montreal the city is officially French but in reality it is bilingual. There are about 450,000 Anglophones (English mother tongue) in the metropolitan area. From downtown to the western tip of the island English is the dominant language. Of course Montreal provides a great opportunity to gain a familiarity with French if you so choose.
@Omegadoug @TomSrOfBoston Quebec has historically set a very low limit on the amount that post-secondary tuition can increase in order to ensure their residents can attend college or university. Another reason for the difference in tuition between Quebec and other provinces is because the other provinces give some or all of the tuition back to resident students who qualify for need-based aid. So the net cost is lower in-province than it is out of province for other provinces as well. A Canadian citizen student who had never resided in any of the provinces would be eligible for in-province tuition as well as provincial aid in any province.
Universities can keep tuition relatively low for Canadian citizens because of funding from the provincial and federal governments. Provincial funding also depends on transfer payments from the federal government. When McGill can capture Canadian citizens who don’t come from another province, they gain in payments from both governments. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_transfer_payments
http://www.mcgill.ca/senate/files/senate/5._d17-32_budget_planning_report_i.pdf http://www.mcgill.ca/cesa/files/cesa/11-cesa-02-14_strategic_enrolment_management.pdf