I had made up my mind completely. I decided that the best possible option, under the circumstances, would be NED. Just when I was trying to convince one of my friends over the phone to join NED with me, my father handed me an envelope. It was from the University of Alberta. I had applied there in the hope that if the situation were to change i’ll have a good option. I have already received a CAN$15,000 scholarship that is payable over a period of 4 years ($2250 for the 1st year, and it increases in subsequent years until all the $15,000 have been given). This letter had further news. I am to receive a further scholarship valued at CAN$5000 through another award I had applied to. The total Engineering cost is CAN$12,300. For the first year, CAN$7250 will be covered by the scholarships. This has lead me into such an awkward dilemma: even though there isn’t much to cover, I still won’t be able to cover the expenses for Alberta and so NED would be a much better option. But I just don’t have the heart to dump that amount. Some really bright students from my class had applied for the same scholarships but they didn’t receive it. If I dump this scholarships, I would be very unfair to my friends (although thats not my primary concern)!
What I want to know from you people is whether it will be feasible to go for Alberta? Do you think I can cover the remaining costs through a job? Or should I chose NED and think about foreign universities after my bachelors. The problem with NED is that I am an overseas Paksitani living in UAE, and I am going to appear for my A level Finals within days. For NED, I’ll have to make an equivalence certificate. Electrical Engineering requires very high high marks, and I am not sure what yardstick they use to give out the marks (the best I can get is 3 A’s at A levels, and I know a couple of people who got it converted to marks in the range of 70% and one who got it converted to 90%). It would be a big gamble.
There are several ways to raise the money to go Alberta. The first been through loans through your family or through the University signed off by a Canadian resident. These will allow you to get the money that you need and then pay it off after you graduate. Getting jobs is relatively easy on campus though it would not pay for everything, it should be sufficient to cover most of your needs once you add your scholarship amounts. You can also talk to the univeristy and ask them if they would be willing to raise the scholarship amount cause you are really very interested in the college but are limited in your options due to lack of funds. Very often Universitys can be a bit more lenient. Also email the Pakistani students/association at the university and figure out what other people are doing to cover bills and what the job situation is like.
Also I think in Canada you can get work off campus relatively easily if you are student at a college even if you are international student.
The question you should be trying to answer is whether the University is better then NED, whether you can live in the cold and been far away from family.
I am sure other people in Canada can add more to the above.
I am not sure about the university being lenient on this, they require us to give proof that the international student is able to cover the expenses, or else get lost...
I've heard that you can't get a job off-campus in Canada as an international student...
I had contacted a few people from the Pak student Association, it seems they haven't updated their site for ages as only a few who replied had finished their courses long back...
How do I go about getting a loan through the uni signed by a canadian resident?
Anyone in Canada willing to give a few thoughts here?
The total Engineering cost is CAN$12,300. For the first year, CAN$7250 will be covered by the scholarships
let me get this right, so your annual cost is 12,300 tuition and living expenses? because if thats the case u are $5k short for your first year and lesser in each subsequent year as your scholarship amount gets larger.
$5K bucks is not a huge amount. if you work 20 hrs/week on campus at $5/hr thats 400 bucks per month i.e $4800/yr, some differences there can be covered by personal loans from family etc. Or u can supplment by working off campus during summer through summer work permits to work fulltime, and I know ppl who did this by working like crazy over the summer and winter breaks. doing this will cover your costs.
as far as showing support u can always get a n affidavit of support from someone in teh family, uncle/aunt etc showing that they can support you.
okay I just checked, and that $12k amount is just tuition & fees. now u have to figure out what the cost of living there is. I have no clue about alberta but depending on where the uni is located your montly living costs will vary.
if we use the same math we were using earlier assumingu have 4 month semesters and u work 20 hr/week during the semester which will net u $3200 during teh school year, and if you work fulltime/overtime over summer break u can be very close. any difference u can try to arrange with some family member who can give u a few thousand, and then as you start getting more scholarship funds, u reimburse them slowly.
Another option is to apply to other universities as well, there are some good universities with low tuitions and are in rural areas so cost of living is less as well. Oklahoma, texas, iowa etc could be good options.
also dont forget that even if u start at NED you can transfer to some other university later on, or go for masters where graduate assistantships will cover all your costs or atleast most costs.
If you have a close family friend or member who is Canadian citizen, they can sign off on a student loan for you. This basically means that if you default on the loan, the person who signed becomes liable so it has to be someone who can really trust you. Also even if you decide to not go this year, ask the university to defer the admission for a year while you try and find funding for the school. This way you have a shot at it again next year and perhaps by then you could make something happen.
there are also commonwealth scholarships that you could apply for or even Pakistani scholarships (there were a couple of links that were posted here before). Dont know if they apply to your particular university but it may be something to think about.
Also as Fraudia said there are other colleges which may be cheaper.
NED is a fully recognized university, graduates of NED have gone on to do masteds and PhDs at top institutes around the world.
as far as it being late to applyto other universities, maybe for teh fall semester, maybe not for the spring. You can even apply for the next fall, join NED and transfer your credits from NED to the other university that you end up going to.
