Daily BrewU.S.applications to Canadian schools up due to weak loonie
[A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the “loonie”, is pictured in this illustration picture taken in Toronto on Jan. 23, 2015. REUTERS/Mark Blinch]
The weak Canadian dollar is bad news for many here, but it’s a boon for American college students looking for a good deal on tuition.
Increased enrolment from American and other international students is expected for fall 2016, according to a Canadian not-for-profit focused on international education, and the loonie — which suffered its worst performance against the greenback since 2003 last month and is now trading at $0.72 US — is the catalyst.
“We anticipate that the lower dollar will have a positive impact on student enrolment although we do not have anything right now to substantiate this,” Jacquelyn Hoult, director of communications for the Canadian Bureau for International Education, tells Yahoo Canada News. “Any impact will likely not be felt until September.”
It’s also worth pointing out that Canada is already seen as more affordable than other English-speaking host countries, Hoult says.
Average tuition fees for international undergraduate students were $21,932 CDN in 2015/16, according to Statistics Canada, and $14,350 for graduate students. That’s about $15,790 US and $10,330, respectively, at current exchange rates.
By contrast, 2014/15 tuition fees in the United States averaged $9,139 for state residents and $22,958 for state colleges, and $31,231 at private non-profit colleges, according to the College Board, an American not-for-profit focused on expanding higher-education access.
Some universities across Canada are already reporting increased interest from students in other parts of the world.
“McGill has experienced a 13 per cent increase in applications from the U.S. this year compared to last year,” says Kathleen Massey, who didn’t provide absolute figures. “We attribute this, at least in part, to the change in the dollar. There may be other factors.”
About a quarter of the student body at McGill is international, Massey says, and American students make up the largest percentage of that at six to seven per cent.
“We have noticed an increase in the number of applications from the United States compared to this time last year,” Angelique Saweczko, registrar for the University of Calgary, tells Yahoo Canada News.
The Windsor Star reported Sunday that the while the University of Windsor only admits a few dozen American students each year, 2016/17 applications in so far from American students are up more than 50 per cent.
And the University of Toronto hears from more interested American parents when the loonie is low, the university’s enrolment services director told the Globe and Mail last month.
The weak loonie doesn’t just attract students from the U.S. Just shy of one-third of the students at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax are international, Paul Davis, the school’s associate vice-president of enrolment and registrar, tells Yahoo Canada News. And the school has about 50 per cent more students from the Caribbean this year than the one before, Davis says.
The increase in the number of Saint Mary’s applications from Bermuda and Caribbean countries, such as the Bahamas, Antigua, Jamaica and Saint Lucia increases when the Canadian dollar drops, Davis says. Many Caribbean currencies are pegged to the American dollar.
“Our applications to date [this year] from the Caribbean and Bermuda are well up over last year,” Davis says. “As the dollar changes, our enrolment from the Caribbean goes up significantly or down significantly.”
