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8 Reasons to Attend Canadian Universities

By Lynn O’Shaughnessy

Ever thought about attending a Canadian university?

A growing number of Americans are considering earning a college degree from up North.
Actually, it’s not as far north as you might think because most Canadian universities are
near the US border.

Here are some reasons why you might want to consider exploring schools in Canada.

1. Reasonable price.

The costs at Canadian universities will often be lower than at private colleges in the United
States, as well as public universities in the U.S. for out-of state residents. Americans will
pay roughly $25,000 to $30,000 a year. That price includes books, incidentals and coverage
in Canadian health insurance.

McGill University

“For your bang for your buck, Canadian schools are an amazingly good quality,”
Whitney Laughlin, a college consultant in Santa Fe, NM, and British Columbia.

2. Canadian admission process can be forgiving.

Canadian schools can be great for late bloomers. Strange but true: some Canadian
universities, such as the University of British Columbia, only looks at 11th and 12th
grade report cards when examining transcripts. If you messed up in the first two years
of high school, it’s not a deal breaker.

3. Schools won’t always need your SAT or ACT score.

Canadian universities can be a boon for poor test takers. Some schools don’t require
the SAT or ACT test scores though some may request the scores if a student’s GPA is
lower.

4. Great quality.

Canadian post-secondary education is uniformly strong and much more standardized
than in the U.S. Canadian universities offer a world-class education in some gorgeous
cities.

5.Merit scholarships are available.

Merit-based scholarships for international students are becoming commonplace at many
Canadian universities. Here is an online resource to find Canadian scholarships for non-
Canadians.

6. Still qualify for federal college loans

University of British Columbia

American families can still borrow through the Stafford or PLUS loan programs, which
are loans offered by the federal government for U.S. citizens.

7. A hidden jewel.

Most Canadian universities are large public institutions, but there is a notable exception —
Quest University, an amazing liberal arts college located in a stunning setting in British Columbia.
This is going to sound strange to Americans, but Quest is the only private, secular nonprofit
college in Canada. About 25% of Quest students are from the U.S. Here is an article from The New York Times about the school.

8. A fast track to becoming a Canadian resident.

Attending college in Canada can give you a fast track to becoming a permanent resident, which
can then lead to citizenship. You could ultimately become a citizen of both the U.S. and Canada.

What Are The Savings By Attending College In Europe?

Several European countries provide free tuition to American students. For example, the state universities
in Germany offer their majors in English. You can graduate from a German university with a German
degree, and all you paid for was room and board, that's about $10,000 a year. And the great advantage is that
as soon as you step off campus on any given day, you're in Europe!

Letter To Two Of My Students Before They Went To College In Scotland

Hi Eva and Lily,

I am thrilled to learn that the both of you will be attending the College of Saint Andrews this fall.You have made a decision that will influence your life in ways that you cannot imagine even now. But I’ll give you a hint as to how. Right here.

By attending college outside of the country can be viewed as a metaphor for thinking “outside the box.” People who do such thinking discover horizons in their future that others cannot see, or are simply unwilling to leave open the possibilities that’s there’s a window through which greater possibilities can be seen.It’s their comfort zone that forces them to remain where they are, and we’ve heard time and again that real growth for any of us is to live outside our comfort zones - to see, hear, feel, and taste things we never knew existed before.

Put another way, staying close to home as a new college student is like a new ship staying in harbor. But a ship isn’t built for the purpose of staying in harbor.Its purpose is to ride the sometimes stormy seas where adventure, excitement, and the discovery of new worlds exist. And your growth will be the expansion of those horizons that started you on your life voyage with your decision to step outside your comfort zones.

As you live outside of your country, you will be exposed to cultures and ideas unfamiliar to you. By the time graduation comes, you will have walked through the Louvre in Paris, Westminster Abbey in London, the Sistine Chapel in Rome, not to mention coming to know individuals who grew up and lived in the environments that made these experiences real for you. In other words, you will experience and internalize realities that you would never experience at any college in the United States.

And how do you place a price-tag on those experiences? You don’t. You can’t.

And you will return home with a perspective that is wider and deeper than anyone else your age.You will raise the bar of expectations from future employers who will only be too happy to meet them, and the quality of the gentlemen you allow to pursue you will be of a quality to match yours. Not a bad benefit for a lifetime.

When you enter the job-interview-after-college phase of your life, it will become obvious to any future employer that you are a very special individual. And the question you will likely hear during your interviews is, “When can you start?”

Your parents are to be commended for their support of your decision. Typically, parents are unintentional co-conspirators in having their children remain in their comfort zones, they simply find a convenient way to keep you close, not wanting to let go. It’s only natural. It’s so difficult for a parent to see their children leave home forever, but your parents are able to rise above their own perspective so that you can begin to enrich yours. And it’s a sacrifice they are making that reflects one of the most difficult support-decisions I believe they have ever made. But they put you before themselves in a way that most parents cannot handle. They are pretty freaking special, just as their daughters are.

As with all my students, It’s been an honor for me to have served you in my small way, and it’s been a thrill to have been a part of your process in applying to college.

My most sincere congratulations to you and your parents for a great and far-reaching decision.

Paul