Have a lot of ?s about studying in Canada

[JustJeff]

My wife wants to move to Canada (from the US).  I am in the process of looking at law schools and now I need to know everything about Canadian law schools.  I am curious about costs, admissions, etc. 
Does anyone know of a good web site or two that I could use to start researching this? 

Thank you for any help.

[Cheeks]

Hey Jeff,

To be honest, you need to be more specific with your questions.  I'll do my best to answer them.  There really isn't one main website that has information for you.  For example, if you're looking at schools in Ontario, you may want to look through the OUAC website.  For other provinces, look specifically at the law schools websites.

As per cost, it varies, but it would be MUCH cheaper then a US school.  The top Canadian schools would run you around 30 grand Can./year.  Again, any school website will tell you this information. 

hope this helps

[JustJeff]

Thank you for responding Cheeks. 

I guess my main concerns are financial.  I know that at least in the US I can get financial aid, loans, work study, etc.  However in Canada I would not be a citizen, so I am assuming that financial aid is out. We just had a child and I would need to make sure we would have enough money to pay for school and eat.

Is it difficult to become a citizen, if we wanted to stay after school?  What is the job market like in Canada for new lawyers?  We do not have any specific region/provinces in mind.

Any help would be great.  Thank you.

[Cheeks]

well, financial aid wouldn't be ruled out...but Canadian schools are much less generous with this sort of thing.  This is generally due to the fact that they just don't have any money to give.  Where US scholarships run 20-39K, Canadian ones would be more like 6k.  But they are cheaper to attend so it depends on how you look at it I suppose.  Plus I"m sure it would be pretty easy to find a bank or something along those lines who would be glad to lend you money to attend law school. 

Also, different provinces have different costs of living.  Ontario would be by far the highest.  Apart from the top 2 maybe 3 law schools in Canada, the schools are all pretty much the same.  Its not like the US at all.  There's only about 15 law schools and each school has a much higher reputation in its immediate area then it would have country wide.  So if you want to live in BC for example, I would suggest applying to BC schools.

It is difficult to become a citizen, but not so difficult to obtain a work permit.  Staying after school is definitely an option but I would suggest looking into this on your own or contacting someone who would know more about this kind of thing.  The job market for lawyers in Canada isn't that great either.  I've heard that its tough to find a job but this would all depend on province/type of law and a number of other things. 

hope this helps

[JustJeff]

Thank you.