Not only in Maine, I'm thinking all the border states are in on this...
[HEADING=2][SIZE=7]More Maine high schoolers are looking to Canada for college[/SIZE][/HEADING]
Amid increased political pressures on American higher education, and the rising cost of college, some Maine students are heading across the border.
SCARBOROUGH — Affordability. A simpler application process. The value of an international education. Novelty, adventure. Family ties in the country. There are a lot of reasons high school students in southern Maine say they’re interested in going to college in Canada.
But lately, there’s another motivation: American politics.
At the Consider Canada college tour fair at Scarborough High School this month, more than a dozen universities — all of them a closer drive to Greater Portland than most places in the U.S. — just had to convince Maine high schoolers to take a chance on crossing an international border for college.
And these days, more of them are. The number of American study permit holders in Canada reached its highest point in a decade in 2025.
Last year, after President Donald Trump took office and began to slash [grant funding]('https://www.pressherald.com/2025/12/04/what-happens-to-maine-research-grants-canceled-by-the-trump-administration/'), threaten [schools with investigations]('https://www.nytimes.com/article/trump-university-college.html') and revoke [international student visas]('https://www.pressherald.com/2025/04/21/aclu-files-class-action-suit-over-revoked-student-visas-throughout-new-england/'), Canadian universities [started to report rising interest]('https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/canadian-universities-report-jump-us-applicants-trump-cuts-funding-2025-04-15/') from American students.
“I feel like every single part of what you do in America is based on your political affiliations right now,” said Rose Dembele, a junior at Traip Academy in Kittery who attended the college fair. As a student representative on the Kittery School Committee, she said politics have become increasingly tense, and she’s looking for a different atmosphere for her college experience.
Lucas Mancini, an assistant registrar from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, said the number of Americans applying there has grown more than 100% in the past two years.
“In terms of interest emails — students requesting information about the school — they almost always provide the information that it’s due to the political situation,” Mancini said. “If not just in general, the political situation’s impact on academic life in the United States, as well as the impact on how research is funded.”
Scott Harris, Scarborough High’s senior placement counselor who coordinates the fair, said he has observed a growing interest in Canadian universities among his students. At Scarborough, he said, the number of students applying to school in Canada doubled between 2024 and 2025, and again this year.
“Instead of me just saying, “‘Hey, have you thought of this?'” Harris said, “it’s students coming in and saying, “‘I’m interested in learning more about this.'”
However, that doesn’t always translate to enrollment. Even as more Maine high school students have sought out Canadian universities, many have ultimately decided to stay at home.
[HEADING=1]STUDENTS LOOK ACROSS THE BORDER[/HEADING]
Several of Canada’s largest and most well-known universities have reported increased interest from American students since Trump took office.
McGill University in Montreal had 75 more Americans enroll this school year compared to the year before. A spokesperson for the University of Toronto said the school has seen “steady increases in applications from potential U.S. students in recent years — a trend that has continued for the 2026-27 academic year.”
The University of British Columbia near Vancouver reported a 44% rise in U.S. applicants to graduate programs in 2025 compared to the prior year, and a sharp rise in transfer inquiries from students currently studying at American institutions.
Gage Averill, the university’s provost, [told news outlets]('https://vancouversun.com/news/acceptance-us-graduate-applicants-ubc-jumps-donald-trump-funding-cuts') the increase was a response to Trump’s funding cuts and other attacks on higher education, and that American students are viewing Canada as a safer and more stable option.
At the same time, the Canadian government in 2024 [put a cap]('https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/01/canada-to-stabilize-growth-and-decrease-number-of-new-international-student-permits-issued-to-approximately-360000-for-2024.html') on international students and [the number of new students arriving]('https://web.archive.org/web/20260303190728/https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/statistics-open-data/immigration-stats/students-workers.html') decreased by 61% between 2024 and 2025, a drop of 177,595. The government described it as an effort to return immigration to “sustainable levels” to help ease pressures on housing, infrastructure and services.
At the college fair in Scarborough, universities across Canada’s Atlantic provinces said they’ve seen rising numbers of American applicants. The tour has stops in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, the four states where the universities receive most of their American students from.
Harris, the school counselor, said the students he works with who seek out Canadian universities cite cost and a study abroad experience that’s close to home. He said there’s a lot of easy transference between Canadian degrees and U.S. employers. Or, for those interested in living there long-term, most international students [can stay in the country for three years]('https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/study-canada/work/after-graduation/about.html') after they graduate.
(The trend isn’t universal; school counselors in Sanford, South Portland and at private Portland-based Waynflete said they hadn’t seen any noticeable increase in applications to Canadian schools lately.)
Greta Butler, a junior at Traip in Kittery who attended the fair, said she was intrigued by the more streamlined application process — Canadian schools just ask for transcripts, no essays, letters of reference or SAT scores — and differences in teaching style.
Noelle Grattan, Greta’s mother, said she learned from recruiters at the fair that American students are competitive because of more advanced high school course requirements, which gives them a chance to stand out, compared to the large application pools at U.S. universities.
Grattan also had safety on her mind.
“From a parent’s point of view, there’s less gun violence on Canada campuses. It’s the sad reality of American schools,” she said. “There’s also the affordability factor, that’s huge.”
[HEADING=1]A GOOD DEAL[/HEADING]
International undergraduate student tuition at Canadian universities [costs an average of CA$41,746]('https://www.educanada.ca/programs-programmes/education_cost-cout_education.aspx?lang=eng') ($30,535 in U.S. dollars), although most of the [schools represented at the fair]('https://univcan.ca/about-universities-canada/facts-and-stats/tuition-fees-by-university/') range from CA$20,000 to CA$40,000 ($14,635 to $29,270 in the U.S.)
This year, the [average annual tuition]('https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/paying-for-college-infographic') at a private college in the U.S. is $44,961, while a year at an in-state public school costs about $11,371 and an out-of-state public is $25,415.
One of the Canadian universities closest to Maine is the University of New Brunswick, located just over an hour’s drive from the border in the provincial capital Fredericton. UNB’s Associate Vice President for Recruitment and Enrolment Lloyd Henderson said the school has been actively recruiting in Maine for a decade. Representatives visit the state two or three times a year.
He said UNB is a good deal for Americans; the international tuition rate is CA$21,000, about $15,000 annually.
The university had an 88% surge in applications from American students between 2024 and 2025, and applications are tracking at a similar rate for 2026.
Henderson said Maine and Massachusetts are the most-represented states among the university’s American student population. He said the school enjoys “strong double-digit enrollment” from across Maine, including the border communities of Calais, Houlton, and Presque Isle, and larger cities down Interstate-95 including Bangor, Augusta and Portland.
Henderson called New Brunswick and New England kindred spirits: they have comparable climates, the residents have similar interests and both prioritize family relationships. Mainers have a familiarity with Canada, he said, and a comfort with crossing the border that’s important when taking the leap of leaving the country for school.
“The farther away you get from the border,” he said, “the more the border becomes a barrier.”
[HEADING=1]INTEREST DOESN’T ALWAYS LEAD TO ENROLLMENT[/HEADING]
When it came time for Portland High School senior Lucy Drew to apply for college, she was set on attending a Canadian university, and submitted to four: McGill, the University of Toronto, Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and UNB.
Drew said the state of higher education in the U.S. felt fragile, and polarized.
“The idea of leaving that behind and starting fresh somewhere sounded very appealing,” she said.
But now, Drew has committed to attend the University of Maine. Multiple hurdles — including a program only offered in French, and the high cost of tuition compared to what she was offered for financial aid domestically — helped with her decision. Even though Canadian schools often have lower starting tuition rates, they offer less need-based financial aid.
Drew said many of her friends were in the same situation.
“A lot of people, I’ve noticed, have applied to Canada schools,” she said. “And then when it comes down to it, everyone’s chosen U.S. schools.”
Kimberly Labrecque, who runs Scarborough-based consulting agency College Solutions, said it’s easy to get students to apply to Canadian universities, but by the end of the process, most of her clients end up enrolling in a U.S. school, for reasons like familiarity or cost. The majority of Labrecque’s clients who land at Canadian universities are dual citizens.
Drew, who is planning to study nursing, said she still has Canada on her mind for graduate school.
