Higher University Tution and More Financial Aid?

I read an interesting article in Maclean's, “Why Canadian students graduate with more debt, not less.” The article states that although US tuition fees are higher than Canadian tuition fees. Surprisingly, Canadian students graduate with more debt. Why is that? More financial aid is available from American universities.  

“In the U.S., average debt at graduation rose to $25,250 in 2010, according to a Nov. 3 report by the Project on Student Debt. Here in Canada, students were graduating with an average debt of $26,680 according to a 2009 report released by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation. If anything, the Canadian average is higher now.”

The US financial aid is from the federal government and the universities themselves. The writer further states that, “by charging students from wealthy backgrounds high rates, universities are able to provide significant aid for students from low-income backgrounds.”

Essentially the rich are supplementing the tuition of the poor. If you like this system, the powers-that-be will have to determine what is considered rich and low-income. In fact, parents’ income will be used to decide the students’ income level. Then a ‘fair’ means test will have to be devised and recipients will have to complete this test. And so, some will be judged ‘low-income’ and benefit and others will be deemed ‘rich’ and will be required to pay the full, published tuition. Of course, they will be a percentage of students and parents who will feel that they were unfairly labeled as rich.

Do you prefer to pay a lower tuition with less financial aid? Or a higher sticker price with the possibility of getting a reduction as a result of financial aid?

What's the Tuition at Canadian Universities?

Here’s a list of tuition at each Canadian University:

Province	University	Tuition	Out of Province Tuition
Nova Scotia	Acadia University	6679	7701
Alberta	Alberta College of Art & Design	5200
Ontario	Algoma University	6410
Alberta	Athbasca University	6100	7150
Quebec	Bishop's University	3002	6602
Alberta	Brandon University	3713
Ontario	Brock University	5869
Nova Scotia	Cape Breton University	4700	5722
Ontario	Carleton University	6041
Quebec	Concordia University	3451	7051
Nova Scotia	Dalhousie University	5562	6584
British Columbia	Emily Carr University of Art & Design	4168
British Columbia	Kwantlen Polytechnic University	4252
Ontario	Lakehead University	5981
Ontario	Laurentian University	5729
Quebec	McGill University	3603	7203
Ontario	McMaster University	6094
Newfoundland	Memorial University of Newfoundland	3048
New Brunswick	Mount Allison University	7010
Alberta	Mount Royal University	5926
Nova Scotia	Mount Saint Vincent University	5073	6095
Ontario	Nipissing University	5767
Nova Scotia	Nova Scotia Agricultural College	5026	6048
Nova Scotia	NSCAD	4600	5622
Ontario	OCAD University	5860
Ontario	Queen's University	6186
Ontario	Royal Military College of Canada	3390
British Columbia	Royal Roads University	6929
Ontario	Ryerson University	5825
Nova Scotia	Saint Mary's University	5102	6124
British Columbia	Simon Fraser University	5560
Nova Scotia	St. Francis Xavier University	5827	6849
New Brunswick	St. Thomas University	5092
British Columbia	Thompson Rivers University	4805
Ontario	Trent University	6545
New Brunswick	Universite de Moncton	5539
Quebec	Universite de Montreal	2799	6399
Quebec	Universite de Sherbrooke	2593	6193
Quebec	Universite du Quebec	2787	6387
Quebec	Universite Laval	2676	6276
Nova Scotia	Universite Sainte-Anne	4819	5841
Alberta	University of Alberta	6411
British Columbia	University of Brtish Columbia	6125
Alberta	University of Calgary	6083
Ontario	University of Guelph	6211
Nova Scotia	University of King's College	5687	6709
Alberta	University of Lethbridge	5490
Manitoba	University of Manitoba	3917
New Brunswick	University of New Brunswick	6008
British Columbia	University of Northern British Columbia	5361
Ontario	University of Ontario Institute of Technology	7891
Ontario	University of Ottawa	5818
Prince Edward Island	University of Prince Edward Island	5714
Saskatchewan	University of Regina	5634
Saskatchewan	University of Saskatchewan	5446
British Columbia	University of the Fraser Valley	4470
Ontario	University of Toronto	6263
British Columbia	University of Victoria	5474
Ontario	University of Waterloo	5982
Ontario	University of Western Ontario	6103
Ontario	University of Windsor	5865
Manitoba	University of Winnipeg	3889
British Columbia	Vancouver Island University	4329
Ontario	Wilfrid Laurier University	6120
Ontario	York University	6203

Note that some programes, for example, are more expensive. Also, don’t forget to include additional expenses when working on your budget; refer to September 19th blog. And, of course, tuition will increase for 2012.

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Have You Started to Save for University?

A recent survey by TD Canada Trust found that a staggering 45% of parents who have children eligible to start post-secondary education this fall have not started to save. A third of the parent surveyed say they'll only be able to cover less than 10 per cent of the cost. Another TD survey suggests that 58% of post-secondary students feel anxious or stressed when they think about how they're going to finance their education.

Remember that tuition has increased 8% in 2 years and according to a 2010 Statistics Canada report, the average student owes over $18,800. TD states the total cost of school for students living away from home at $80,000.

"If tuition fees and other compulsory fees are adjusted for inflation, Ontario students have witnessed a 244 per cent real tuition fee increase between 1990 and 2011," said the report entitled Under Pressure: The impact of rising tuition fees on Ontario families.

Full Newspaper Story Here