Ok this is going to be pretty vague but hopefully I’ll provide some insight and you’ll be able understand my point.
I’m an LD student who will be finishing up my asscociates degree in general education within this next year. I have been considering moving to Canada where I was born and finishing up my undergraduate work. The reason I want to move back to Canada is the health care issue, plus I’ve heard that college is cheaper in Canada…. I have duo citizenship by the way.
Anyways if any of you people can tell me how college’s in Canada compare to college’s in the states as far as accomadating students with Ld I would appreciate it. And just in general how does the canadian higher education system compare to the USA?
even if you direct me to a web site that would be satisfactory…
The Canadian education system looks very close to the American on the surface but there are more differences than appear.
By the way on vocabulary, here we specify university for a four-year institution; a college is a two-year school such as you have already finished.
I am in Quebec and the system here is quite different from everyone else. We have high school to Grade 11, then two years of (free) junior college called CEGEP, then three years of university. If you were to come to a Quebec university with your AA, you would be starting at the same place as everyone else in province (people with Grade 12 from out of province have to take a preparatory year). We have English, French, and bilingual universities.This could be a very good thing for you, fitting right into the system. And our fees are the lowest for in-province, don’t know about coming from outside.
The other provinces have Grade 12 and four years of university, similar to the US. Fees are lower than the US if you count as in-province, but outsiders pay much higher fees — this is only reasonable as the universities are all government-supported from tax funds.
Your AA *may* get you credit for one or two years of work in another province, depending on whether your college is accredited. You will need to have your diploma and transcripts and you will have to submit them to the university for evaluation to see how much of the work transfers for credit. This will take time so make up your mind where you want to apply and then apply early in the new year.
Even if you have dual citizenship, there is the question of residence. You have to be legally resident in a province for three months in order to get health insurance. And, I found out when I returned here from the US, you apply as soon as you arrive in order to start the three-month count; don’t wait .
In order to pay in-province school fees you have to be resident for a certain amount of time, I am not sure how much and it probably varies by province. I believe here in Quebec it is a year, but check this.
After a year you are probably eligible to apply for student aid as well.
You might want to work part time and go to school part-time for a year and then apply full-time once you have the residency.
As far as quality of education, there is much less extreme variation than in the US. The top universities, McGill, U of Toronto, UBC, Waterloo, are world-class universities and can compete with anything in the US or elsewhere. All the others are on the level at least of a very good state university like University of California or Universitly of Maryland. All universities in Canada get government support. There are *no* small private colleges with different standards, except for a couple of very small religious/theology schools.
As far as help for LD, the system is quite different. There is no overall legal requirement, although individual schools may do better without being forced. Because of the lower fees and government funding pressures, schools have very limited budgets and you cannot expect a lot to be spent on you. On the other hand, if you go to an old-fashioned liberal arts school you may find the atmosphere extremely supportive. I am thinking in particular of Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke Quebec, where I went back to get my math degree as an adult. The place is far from perfect but they maintain a personal approach to education rather than a huge bureaucracy. If you went to a place like this and worked with them, it could be a good approach.