Waterloo might be fair value for Canadian citizens

While I am still looking into inexpensive (but not necessarily *good value* relative to student services and other considerations) South African and other second/third world universities, I see that universities from my home country aren't as costly as many of those in the USA - provided that one is a Canadian citizen. Obviously they are tax-supported. But hey, if one has paid taxes in Canada why not reap some of the benefits?

While doing a google search for "distance education" + Russian an Ontario university comes up. It looks better organized than UNISA and the fees are reasonable. I haven't yet determined if degrees are offered, but I would consider doing a few courses even if they don't offer degrees.

Here's a preview from...

http://www.dce.uwaterloo.ca/de/international.html

"Fees: For students who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada, tuition fees are currently $1532.60 (CDN) per unit (course)."

Now, *that's* dear, but read further if you live in Canada or have a Candian passport (as I do) ...

"Tuition fees for Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada are currently $470.00 (CDN) per unit in most programs.

Students residing outside of Canada will be assessed $60 per course (non-refundable) to cover shipping and handling of materials, assignments and examinations."

Perhaps not spectacular value compared to ZA and Pakistan but worth investigating.

Canadian citizens or permanent residents

 

Right. Just avoid the twit bin across the street (WLU). In the year I spent in the twit bin, I always looked kind of longingly at UW and wondered what it was like to be in a real university...
UW is certainly well-regarded and would be a good choice if it has a program you want. Best wishes to you.

 

For better or worse

"All of our distance education courses have unit weights of 0.5. "

So while presumably this means that the fee per course is half the quoted price in my last post, it also takes twice as long to assmble enough to do a degree. From my preliminary reading of their website it looks like this Canadian university offers DL courses but not a DL degree.

 

I spoke too soon

It appears that University of Waterloo does offer a degree.

http://www.dce.uwaterloo.ca/de/FAQs.html#answer7

 

Be kind to Wilfred Laurier U (Waterloo Lutheran U) one on the last church run Universities to sell out for a few pieces of silver. Presently Augustana University College (formerly Camrose Lutheran College) of Camrose, Alberta is contemplating folding themselves into the U of Alberta.

The U of Waterloo was an early Canadian innovator in distance education and its computer department was without equal. Not a bad school in any way.

 

Torquemada revealed?

 

No.

The twit bin is, as Dennis pointed out along with me, Wilfrid Laurier University. It is across the street from the non-twit University of Waterloo.

 

waterloo

I did a second degree at Waterloo. The coast was greatly reduced due to credit for prior learning. It is fine if you just want BA in philosophy, history, classics, etc. However, if you are seeking a professional qualification by distance ed; LLB, BSW, BEd, BSc Mech Eng, etc. Waterloo is not the place. In fact I tend to be of the opinion (not really yet exaustively researched) that Canadian universities tend not to offer professional qualifications part time or distance. Waterloo in my view is great if you just want to water the gardens of the mind but little use for anything else.

Roy Maybery

 

Canadian Distane Ed

For those interested in Canadian distance ed opportunities the following site might be helpful.

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/~mpress/eduweb/distance.html

Roy Maybery

 

Re: For better or worse

0.5 credit course ? what does that mean, how would it be equal to a 3 credit course ?

 

WLU

What specifically is the problem with Wilfred Laurier University? I live about thirty miles down the road in Hamilton. I have been here for twelve years and this is the first time that I have encountered negative waves about WLU?

Yours Roy Maybery

 

I have found the best value for Canadians is not Waterloo, not any other but Athabasca. The cost of course from Athabasca includes books. You can also take any course from them and even challenge for credit which is even cheaper.

I would really like to know if any other is cheaper than this.

 

Here's a comparison for one course that I took at AU to one that I could have taken at BCOU:

ADMN 250--Introduction to Marketing (See--http://www.bcou.ca/courses/admn250.html)
Credit: 3 Format: Web
Price: $ 401.00 for BC & Yukon Canadian
Price: $ 476.00 for non-BC Canadian
(http://my2.bcou.ca/register/Zwgkcdis.p_dtlcrsecheck?P_dtl_subj=ADMN&P_dtl_crse=250&P_dtl_isf=%&P_inp_subj=ADMN&P_inp_level=%&P_inp_inst=%


MKTG 396--Introduction to Marketing (See--http://www.athabascau.ca/html/syllabi/mktg/mktg396.htm)
Students Who are Permanent Residents of Alberta
3 credit: $541

Students Who Live Outside the Province of Alberta but within Canada
3 credit: $596
(Source for fee information--http://www.athabascau.ca/calendar/03/page05_03.html)
--
The SU fee that AU charges is a ripoff, given the recent history of the Students' Union. I can say, though, that the tutors, library staff, and other service people at AU seem to have a genuine interest in serving students. Don't get me started on what I think that AU Executive seems to be interested in though...

 

Does BCOU courses include text/book cost in the fees ? Do they offer as many courses as AU? I have also found that almost all courses at AU start every month. so there is a great choice and variety at AU. would like to know about BCOU.

 

I would have to agree. Athabasca has far more flexibility in its DL programs than any of the other Canadian universities. The tuition is reasonable. I'm also willing to guess that it will receive RA this year. This will make the university very attractive to American students.

 

They indicated (at least in the courses that I researched) that the same type of books and materials included deal was in place at BCOU. Granted, the selection of courses was a bit more limited, but remember that in addition to BCOU, courses are also taught by UVic, UBC, and SFU to help create a more "rounded out" set of offerings than would otherwise have been the case if BCOU was alone in the BC dl business.

(See: http://www.bcou.ca/)

I might try a course through them later on this year to see how it compares to what AU has to offer.

 

Yeah, and helping to jack up the cost of tuition by more than would normally have been the case. AU Execs, and the Middle States folks need to do a lot of travelling to "confirm" these things, it seems.

 

Since no one has posted this anywhere, here is the link to the range of DL undergrad degrees available at Waterloo:
http://www.dce.uwaterloo.ca/de/undergraduate.html#[/URL]

 

Re: waterloo

Roy: Dalhousie University has a BSW and MSW by distance ed - online through WebCT. They are however, only open to Canadian residents.

http://is.dal.ca/~schsw/distance/

 

Re: Re: waterloo

Thank you, this is good news, and is renewing my hopes for Canadian higher education.

Roy Maybery