Program Comparison Help

Decision-making made easy! This tool gives you a breakdown of individual programs offered at George Brown College and how they differ from other programs you’re interested in. Use this tool to select up to 10 programs to compare, helping you make the right choice for the career you want.
Instructions:

1. Under Program Comparison, click Add a New Program

2. Search for one of the programs you’re interested in (either alphabetically, by interest or by job)

3. Click on the title of the program in the menu

4. Click Add to Comparison

5. Continue searching for programs using steps 2-4

6. When you’re done, clicking Program Comparison will give you a preview of the programs and the option to delete, add or clear all

7. Open Program Compare for more details and an easy-to-read comparison of the programs you’ve selected

How to Plan Your Finances

STEP 1. FIGURE OUT YOUR EXPENSES
This isn't rocket science but it may require some research. Get a piece of paper and write down a list of all college expenses.

Include:

Tuition*
Other college fees*
Books, materials, uniforms or tools*
Transportation
Clothes
Housing expenses
Living expenses: food, phone, entertainment, gifts, etc.
Taxes. If you've been working you may face a tax bill (Tax Tips for Students ).

If you need help calculating expenses, use the budget calculator at www.canlearn.ca.
The total of your expenses is the amount of money you'll need for each year of college.

*Go on the web to www.georgebrown.ca or call your academic department to find out what these will cost.

Note for international students: The financial assistance, awards, scholarships and bursaries listed in this brochure are for Canadian students.
Go to George Brown International for financial assistance options for international students.

STEP 2. CALCULATE YOUR INCOME
Income can come from a variety of sources, including:

Savings you've put aside for college
Gifts of money or loans from parents or other people
Scholarships
Awards and bursaries
Government student loans
Government tuition support for unemployed people
Money you will earn from a part-time job while in college

Try to get as much income as possible from non-repayable sources such as savings, gifts, part-time job earnings, awards and scholarships. This is money that you don't have to pay back in the future. You have to pay off student loans with interest, over time, starting six months after you graduate.

STEP 3. CREATE A FINANCIAL PLAN
If you have more income than expenses, you're laughing. But if you have more expenses than income, you need to make a plan and take action. If the amount is small you could look for ways to reduce your expenses to make up the difference or increase the number of part-time hours you work each month. If the financial gap is larger, you will have to try to find ways to increase income: ask for contributions from relatives, take out a student loan or search for more bursaries.