Why are Canadian universities so cheap (in comparison to U.S.)?

[J-rap]

Because we may have five kids in college next year, we are trying to be creative to find the best solution financially. Our state is a border state (Canadian border), and we have reciprocity with Canadian schools in the province above us. I've been looking at tuition at those schools, as well as other universities in Canada where we do not have reciprocity (more out of curiosity), and I can't believe how much more affordable Canadian schools are. Many top notch universities seem to run $5,000/year for Canadian residents.

 

Why is that? How do they do it?

[stripe]

I think when money is spent on education, rather than, say, war, there tends to be more funds available.

 

Also, public universities, esp in state, are often much cheaper than private universities, due to funding issues.

 

Regarding Canada

From p. 8 of the report cited below

The majority of revenues at Canadian publicly funded postsecondary institutions7

are from public sources, reflecting government funding from all levels. According to the

Financial Information of Universities and Colleges (FIUC) survey (see Table 1),

university revenues from public sources comprised about 61% of total university

revenues for the 2008/2009 academic year (Chart 2; Table B.2.12). The remaining

39% was from private sources and more than half of this portion (22%) was from

student fees (tuition and other fees).

 

p. 9

In 2008/2009, the proportions of government, or public, funding for

postsecondary education revenues ranged from 49% in Nova Scotia to 72% in Alberta.

These proportions were also relatively high in Saskatchewan (68%) and Newfoundland

and Labrador (69%). Although the proportions from student fees were relatively low

in Saskatchewan and Alberta (between 14% and 15%), the lowest figures (around

12%) were in Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec8

. As noted earlier,

undergraduate and graduate tuition fees in 2008/2009 were lowest in these two

provinces. In Manitoba, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia, around 60% of

university revenues were from government sources, but the proportions of private

funds from student fees varied, from approximately half in Manitoba and Prince

Edward Island to two-thirds in New Brunswick. Nova Scotia, Ontario and New

Brunswick, which had relatively lower funding from government sources (all below

60%), received the highest proportions of private funding from student fees, around

30% in all three cases.

 

http://www.statcan.g...2011007-eng.pdf

 

I didn't, with a quick search, locate exactly what I wanted to know about federal funding in the US, but

http://www.sheeo.org/projects/shef-%E2%80%94-state-higher-education-finance

and

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind12/c5/c5s1.htm

[Nicole M]

Also, according to my Canadian professor friend (teaching in the US), they don't really have the small LAC model there, and there isn't such a huge gap in wages between admins, faculty, and staff. In the US there has been an extraordinary leap in the salaries of administrators in the last forty or fifty years, as those jobs have been filled more and more by career-admins rather than faculty who rotated in and out of those roles.

 

ETA: I was typing on a phone earlier, bah. What I meant to say is that there are many who think the cost of US universities is artificially high. I read a scathing journal article about a year ago. I'll see if I can find it.

[Punks in Ontario]

I would say a lot has to do with government subsidizing. Remember we are more socialist. International fees are waaay higher. We also run a somewhat different model than you do. Wi have community colleges which mainly grant 1-3 year diplomas - trade diplomas, technicians, social service workers, practical nurses etc. Universities grant 3-4 year degree - BAs, BEds, BSW, BEng. etc.

 

Also we limit enrollment a bit more, but a larger percentage of first year student graduate than Americans. Not just anyone can go to university. (Well, maybe if you want to go to North Bay - LOL). We have very few private colleges and universities.

 

Another thought - we have fewer local type univ. so if you're going, you will almost certainly be living away from home due to distances.

 

That said, I hope reciprocity does not involve Canadian fee structure. I would not be amused if my taxes were subsidizing non Canadians.

[J-rap]

Thanks for taking the time to send the links and explain some of the differences/reasons. It certainly seems like it's working for the Canadian school system. Wish we could figure out something different here.

 

As far as how the reciprocity works... I believe we do get in under the Canadian resident fee. However, it goes both ways. I was able to look up numbers for one of the provinces we have reciprocity with for the years 2010-11. 28 students from our state attend colleges in Manitoba. 38 students in Manitoba attend colleges in our state.