International Students in Canada in for a rude shock in future job market

By Nicholas Ward

Having graduated from Concordia before Covid I began the long hard search for a job only to be confronted with a rude and expensive reality of study in Canada.

Having found what, I thought was the perfect job I applied and reached the stage where I had to send in copies of my degree and grade transcripts. Simple enough. I took my files to a print shop got my copies and went to a Public Notary who stamped my documents as genuine. Certified copies in hand I realised I was missing a copy of my Concordia transcript.

Credit: https://headinthesandblog.org/2017/03/foreign-exchange-students-say-u-s-high-schools-value-sports-academics/

I sent off the request and the exorbitant fee and a week later received a sealed and stamped envelope. In bold capital letters on the front was something I had never seen before.

“Transcript not valid if opened”.

Now this needn’t have been a problem, but the job required three copies of the transcript and the deadline was fast approaching.

I emailed Concordia back specifying I wanted my official transcript. As an international student the idea of paying the university 30 CAD every time I applied for a job plus the exorbitant courier costs was abhorrent.

Nevertheless, the reply came back, what you have is what you get.

I was shocked. These were my grades. I can access them any time. And all that I need is a printout with a university seal attached.

This is where my Canadian friends get confused as they like their American counterparts are used to universities shaking them down for every penny.

Things work differently in Australia and many other countries.

On graduating in much of the world you receive your diploma and an official copy of your grades. Which is simply a few A4 pieces of paper with your grades and the universities seal on it.

In order to apply for jobs or further education one simply gets a photocopy certified by a Justice of the Peace, a free service. Or even more simply just provides their student number which allows companies to look up your record for free.

But not in Canada apparently. Bent over a barrel I had no choice and shelled out the 100 CAD to have three copies of my grades couriered to me.

Now it seems I am trapped in a never-ending cycle of having to pay the university hundreds of dollars indefinitely to apply for jobs and study.

Why can’t the university supply official transcripts unsealed? Because then they wouldn’t have an endless revenue stream from international students.

The university has taken your grades, which are freely accessible, which are yours, which you have worked your butt off and paid through the nose for. And now they hold them hostage to keep you in a never-ending debt to them.

So, if you are an international student studying in Canada, buy a dozen transcripts before you leave and prepare to be shelling out to the university for the rest of your life.