Undergrad applicants to Ontario universities up

According to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre, the number of undergraduate applicants in the province has increased,  although the total number of applications received has gone down.

This decline in applications is due to a drop in the number of schools to which the students are applying. Although the number of first, second, and third-choice applications are up, the "safety" applications to fourth- or fifth-choice schools, for example, are down by 3.3 percent.

The price tag of university applications could be the reason behind this slight droop. That’s because the OUAC allows all applicants to pick their top three choices for a base price of $105, but must pay an extra $35 for each additional school.

For more on this topic, check out Tony Keller’s interview with one of Canada’s leading economists, David Foot on why he thinks fewer students will be heading to university.

Correction: this is an updated and corrected version of a story that appeared on this site.