I was having dinner with a few friends in Mississauga when the conversation drifted to the cost of an education. One friend was venting about how expensive her daughter’s education at the University of Toronto was becoming.

“It’s over $7,000 a year once you include tuition, books, food, and everything else,” she said in frustration.

“Wait… $7,000 a year?” I asked. “Reeally!?”

“Yes!” she replied, as if this number alone should require emotional support and a government bailout.

Now, maybe my perspective is warped from my glory years at Baylor University down in Texas, but I immediately thought back to the 1990s when my education there was already approaching what felt like the GDP of a small nation. So naturally, I pulled out my phone and checked Baylor’s current costs.

Ladies and gentlemen… Baylor University undergraduate tuition for 2025–2026 is $88022.00 CAD per year for tuition only. That’s not counting housing, food, or textbooks, which are priced, on average, at $2200.00 CAD! So, when I showed her the number, she literally gasped. Then she went silent for a moment. Actually, several moments. The kind of silence where your brain quietly recalculates every life decision you’ve ever made.

Then I checked University of Torontos’ tuition to see if she had been exaggerating. Um, she wasn’t.

Suddenly both of us were sitting there in stunned silence, realizing that a four-year degree at the University of Toronto can cover only one semester at Baylor. And that’s when it hit me: this is one of the benefits of a social democracy. Stronger protections against price gouging and runaway pricing, lower tuition, universal healthcare, and fewer situations where people need to choose between “higher education” and “remaining financially alive.”

And don’t even get me started on healthcare costs. Americans pay around twice as much as Canadians, even after factoring in taxes. In the U.S., medical debt is the leading causes of family bankruptcy. In Canada, the average person doesn’t fear financial annihilation because they had the audacity to require surgery.

But back to university costs.

Today, a four-year tuition bill at the University of Toronto is roughly $24,000 CAD for many undergraduate programs. My alma mater? Around $149,000 CAD in tuition alone. Which means a full four-year education at U of T costs a little more than a single semester (eg half a year) at Baylor.

Woah. Erm, Sic ’em Bears… I guess?

And this is exactly why I started an education savings plan for my daughters years ago. The funny part is that, based on what I’ve saved so far, I may have overshot the target by… well… a healthy six figures. And they still have 7 and 13 years before university if they attend University of Toronto. Eh, I’d even be happy with McGill. But wither way, seems education is a cost I need not worry about now.

Anyway, sometimes you don’t fully appreciate what you have until you compare it with somewhere else. And after doing the math on the cost of an education here, I have to admit: The grass is looking a little greener here in Canada.