<p>On another thread it was sugggested to us that we look into my son attending McGill University. A couple of people indicated how reasonable the price tag was: one said $8,000 per year, and another said $15,000 per year. I went on the McGill website, and they indicated with room, board, tuition, and other fees a range from $25-32k, in Canadian dollars. From what I remember the Canadian dollar is about 85 cents, so that makes it $21,250-27,200, not a ripoff by any means, but certainly not a great deal either. </p>
<p>Am I missing something? Why do people think it's so cheap?</p>
<p>The top Canadian univesities -- McGill and Toronto -- are often touted as "Ivy at a steal," and they kind of are. Compare McGill's yearly tuition of about $12,000 with Harvard's yearly tuition of $26,000... you get the picture. </p>
<p>When you get into room and board and all that jazz you will be spending a crapload no matter where you are, but from a pure tuition standpoint, the top Canadian schools are WAY cheaper than the top US schools.</p>
<p>The best deal in Canada is definitely the University of Toronto -- all the prestige of McGill (hell, more) at a third of the cost tuition-wise. Yearly tuition is just a little over $4,000.</p>
<p>From the McGill Website in Canadian $
International tuition fees $13,000-$15,000<br>
Ancillary fees $1,400*
Mandatory health insurance $700
Immigration fees $250
Books and supplies $1,000
Lodging (8 months) 6,800-$12,000
Food (8 months) -Included above
Other expenses $2,000
Total: International Students $25,150-$32,350</p>
<p>Converts to $22-27.5k American. $6-10k more than UVA or W&M (we are Va residents). Guess it would come down to merit aid and fit, like most choices of colleges.</p>
<p>I used to think that McGill would be about $10K a year because the website lists one rate for Quebec residents and another for non-Quebec residents. What I didn't realize was that the non-Quebec rate meant non-Quebec Canadians. I later found that there is a third fee schedule for International students. You're right, W&M or U.Va. at in-state rates are two of the greatest bargains in American higher education.</p>
<p>Well, lodging can be cheaper if you live off campus (really, much cheaper, residences are rip offs, and so are apartments in the McGill Ghetto), but yeah, the fact that the canadian dollar shot up from US $.65 to US$.90 in 3 years makes McGill way less cheap than it used to be.</p>