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All of Canada's public schools are free to its citizens, paid for by a combination of resident taxes and government subsidies. Students who are enrolled in one of Canada's public schools do not need to pay for textbooks or any of their classes. There is even a school lunch program to help impoverished children get a healthy meal each day.

Around eight per cent of Canadian students attend private schools. These schools have tuition and other expenses related to the education but typically offer a much better level of primary and secondary education. Compared to private academies in the United States, Canadian private schools are quite affordable. The top private schools average around C$11,000 a year in tuition.

Of course, there are always other fees involved with private schools. Some of them are boarding schools as well, and the costs of room and board can be almost as high as the tuition. Extracurricular activities and school trips tend to be extra as well. Nearly all of the hundred or so private schools in Canada are located in and around its main cities such as Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver.

Canadian post-secondary education comes in two forms: academic universities and vocational community colleges. The cost of attending university in Canada is not free, but it is very reasonable compared to other countries like the UK and the United States. Tuition costs at US public universities are around 35 per cent higher for a bachelor's degree, and more than twice as much at the elite private universities.

On average the annual cost of tuition at a Canadian university is C$5,000. Since each province has its own oversight of its colleges and universities, this cost varies slightly. Newfoundland has one of the lowest tuition rates, while Ontario tends to be the most expensive. Prices are expected to continue to rise, though not as dramatically as in other countries.

Graduate students will face steeper increases in annual tuition in the coming years compared to undergrads. While overall tuitions are more or less the same for undergrads of graduate students, graduate students saw a tuition bump of 6.6 per cent in 2010, compared to just 4 per cent for undergrads. Interestingly, dentistry undergraduates have the highest tuition fees at C$14,700 a year, followed by medicine and pharmacy majors.

For graduate students, an MBA is the most expensive course of study, ranging from C$21,000 to C$28,000 depending on the program. In addition to basic tuition, there are also compulsory fees each student must pay every year. These include athletics facilities fees, student health services and other administrative fees that average C$700 per year.