Sophie Gilchrist
Sports Editor
The rising price of American colleges, both state and private, is leading many students to turn north and apply to schools in Canada. The Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. expects as many as 10,000 American students to attend Canadian universities next fall.
This is not a surprise considering tuition, room and board, and extra fees at Canadian colleges are approximately half the cost at comparable American colleges. McGill University in Montreal charges about $21,000 a year for tuition, fees and room and board while American private schools such as Emory University and Middlebury College can cost up to $50,000.
While the cold winters and a lack of a Thanksgiving holiday might be a drawback, they are nothing compared to the debt a student can end up with after attending four years at an American university.
The University of California system’s 32 percent increase in tuition has hit students hard, raising the annual cost to over $10,000 and a whopping $25,000 once room and board and other college expenses are added.
While the $4,000 difference between a Canadian college and the UC tuition might not seem like much, a number of Canadian colleges, including University of British Columbia and McGill University are more academically competitive than half of UC schools, according to Newsweek International.
The admission process for the Canadian schools is also easier than American schools because it is based purely on numbers. Students do not have to complete any essays or supplements — freeing students from the burden of all that busy work.
A student looking for a diverse, academically competitive school may find Canadian schools a viable alternative. More than 18 percent of McGill’s 34,200 graduate and undergraduate students are international, one of the highest proportions in any school in the United States. Canadian schools also have the same breadth of resources as American schools.
In the current economic crisis, Canadian colleges can be an alternative for the American high school senior facing spiraling tuition. I have even tried to mentally prepare myself for no turkey in November in the event I end up attending a Canadian university this fall.
