Dual Citizenship Offers Major Advantages For Post Secondary Students

If you have Canadian citizenship you pay Canadian tuition rates NOT international fees.

The Globe and Mail published an interesting article back earlier in 2016 regarding post secondary education options for students.  Canada’s diminished dollar has the potential to prompt U.S. business students to look north, especially those with dual citizenship. One dual citizen in particular, spotlights the benefits of considering a post secondary education in Canada.

Deven Sanon – winner and recipient of multiple scholastic awards in high school and university, opted for McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management in Montreal instead of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, where he was accepted.

“With the dollar around 74 cents (U.S.), that’s like 26 per cent off everything,” says Mr. Sanon, 20, who is working toward a bachelor of commerce degree. Mr. Sanon grew up in Rochester, N.Y., a five-hour drive from Montreal.

Tuition for two semesters at Carnegie Mellon costs $60,000. At Desautels, bachelor of commerce international tuition is about $40,000 CAD for two semesters, and MBA tuition is the same for everyone, regardless of origin, at $79,500 for a two-year program. Because of his U.S.-Canadian citizenship and because he has lived in Quebec long enough to be considered a resident, Deven benefits from the province’s low tuition rates. He pays just $4,200 for two semesters of full-time classes at one of the world’s most highly-rated universities whose academic prestige is well known. At Desautels’ undergraduate level, about 15 per cent of applicants are American, but in the past year there has been almost a 10-per-cent jump.

UBC’s Sauder School of Business includes about 5 per cent of the school’s 4,000-student population as American. In the past year, there has been a 20% increase in inquiries from U.S. students.

Those bound for Canadian schools can more effectively consider certain attractive elements in colleges and universities, like campus size, student-to-teacher ratio, ambiance, location, and even culture.

Canadian universities are regularly considered some of the best in the world. Back in 2014, out of 1000 global universities, 32 were Canada. Post secondary in Canada remains significantly more affordable than south of the border even before the currency disparity is factored in.Having dual Canadian and American citizenship, through parentage or birth, allows for greater and more cost effective options with respect to post secondary education.