Is there an equivalent of UCAS in Canada or do you need to apply directly to invividual Uni's, and if so, is the application process particularly tricky?

Is there an equivalent of the Student Loans Company or do kids fund uni from bank loans and Mum & Dad loans? Can anyone give me some ball-park yearly costs? Do you pay a fee for an academic year like you do in the UK (with termly hall of residence fees on top) or do you pay per module/paper each semster, plus a bunch of other random but compulsory fees/levies for libraries, insurance, unions and goodness knows what else like I'm seeing in NZ and Australia.

Anything in particular that is required in high school other than good grades in relevent subjects? If someone screws up at school, is there an easy option like even-classes or options to repeat exams the follow year, or do you have to do completely alternative teritary courses in order to get into uni?

Yes - there is an equivalent for university entry. You pay a fee and that includes 3 applications - you can pay more for more applications.
For college admissions, you apply to individual institutions rather than a centralized system.
There is a system for obtaining money to fund learning - here in Ontario it's OSAP, but I have no direct experience of it. I presume other provinces have similar.

Sorry - sent before I finished. In my daughters case, she has to pay a small deposit for fees a few weeks before the semester, then the balance within about two weeks of the semester starting, which does include some extras like bus, insurance. I think her residence fees in her first year were paid in a similar way.

Be aware that universities have tiered pricing, someone from out of Province pays more than someone local but less than an international student.

In BC (don't know about elsewhere), student loans are means tested.

So in the UK most of my friends kids get student loans out to cover the (astronomical) tuition fees whatever anyone's income and then the parents fund the accommodation if they live on campus etc. Here loans depend on parental income.

I think it will end up costing us about the same (as long as the kids go in province and we are not entertaining out of province options with all the extra costs that will incur (including air fares, increased tuition fees etc.)). But the kids won't end up with huge amounts of debt (unless they get student lines of credit from the bank once they are 19!).

And same at my daughter's university: deposit first then balance a few weeks into term.

S

Really? My daughter goes to Western in London, ON and the fees there are the same for Canadian citizens/PRs regardless of where they come from. I have heard that Ontario students get some sort of rebate from OSAP so perhaps that's what you're talking about. However, there is no Western fee schedule that differentiates between in and out of province students as far as I know.

Applications procedures differ by province. I think you're talking about OUAC which is a centralized application system for Ontario universities.

Ontario Universities' Application Centre

Apologies - I should have made it clear that I was talking about Ontario in particular.

In answer to your question about yearly costs. I think it varies by University, some are more expensive than others. My son is currently at Uni in Ontario. His first year cost us approximately $20000, including tuition, residence, food and text books. He is on a co-op course so subsequent years have been cheaper as the tuition is significantly reduced for the time he is on his work placement, plus he gets paid so can fund a lot of his expenses himself.

As above, we budgeted $20k for the first year - we came in a few thousand below that. Tuition fees have been about $3.5k per semester - cheaper than the UK but courses tend to last for 4 years, rather than 3.

Not sure how the system works in Canada but in the US a lot of the more academically accomplished students get scholarships, of which there are a lot around, so much so that in many better high schools the role of the school advisor results in little more than ferreting out all the different scholarship options.

They do here too, there are a raft of scholarships that kids can apply for. Our son was awarded a few thousand a year due to his grades, plus a choice of room type for his first year and an i-pad (which he was most excited about).

That's great every little helps.

Graduating with no debt, some lucky students there....


At the prices being quoted here, amazing anyone can go to college these days, insane prices.

I think she will get out a student line of credit just as soon as she is able.

Tuition fees: pretty reasonable where she went I thought. If she had gone to the local teaching university for a couple of years, it would have been even less (which actually would have been a better choice in my view, not just for cost purposes but because they teach you how to learn in higher ed if that makes sense).


S