Canada sees increase in applications from U.S. students
With the White House soon to be home to President-elect Donald Trump, there has been an increase in applications from American students looking to travel abroad for their education.
Competition from the south sticks out as the main source of worry for Canadian students after hearing of the sudden surge of interest from the States.
In an interview with The Ontarion, Jayce Edwards, a senior student from George Brown College in Toronto commented, “The universities in Canada should be for Canadian students and Canadian students should not be losing their chance at further education because of foreign students. I understand that universities are chasing money but they are also being funded by Canadian tax dollars.”
For current Canadian undergraduate and graduate students, the influx of international students could affect admission averages, academic requirements, and securing employment following graduation.
Aside from election results, attending a Canadian university is, on average, less expensive than an American college.
According to a 2016 report by Business Insider, attending a private college in the United States costs $24,700 per year on average, while in Canada, the average tuition fee is $5,974 per year. The difference in exchange rates between the two countries also means that the American dollar goes further in Canada.
According to recent Global News findings, applications from the U.S. have risen 70 per cent since the release of the election results. Even if all 70 per cent of these applications resulted in students attending a Canadian university, there would be a meager increase of 6,300 students coming from the U.S. To put this in perspective, there are 57,000 students from China studying in Canada yearly, according to CBC.
The prairies have seen the largest increase in interest, specifically in website visits.Collin Binkley of the Associated Press said that the University of Saskatchewan witnessed a 392 per cent increase in web traffic from the week before the election.
Stephanie Burgess, a University of Guelph international development graduate, says that at the end of the day, it is cheaper for them to come here, unless they attend a community college.
In the current landscape, Canada remains a competitive nation for post-secondary schooling.
Photo courtesy of Derek-Bruff via CC-BY-NC-2.0