<p>Okay, OP, I’m pretty certain I know the area you’re from, and your folks are being ridiculous – AND – you’re the one that has to do something about it, because obviously they would prefer the control over you that a decade (or three) of penury will hold. While they may mean well, you simply can’t allow their ignorance or misinformation shackle your future in this way. You have absolutely no idea what you’re up against here in repaying that kind of debt. But even more concerning is that you have an ABUNDANCE of options that I suspect for various reasons are not being considered.</p>
<p>If you’re from the city I suspect or anywhere else in Essex County, you have University of Windsor. I don’t care what you think about the actual program. You could do the undergrad for next to nothing AND THEN GO TO GRAD SCHOOL in the states, Toronto, Montreal, or Vancouver, where there are lots of jobs in CS and powerhouse programs. At that point, you/d be older and perhaps your folks would worry less.</p>
<p>You also have University of Western 1 3/4 hours away in London (or 1 hour away in London if you live in Sarnia) which is an outstanding university, period. Next in line in terms of proximity is Waterloo – excellent engineering program in CS.</p>
<p>York is a fine school, University of Toronto better, and I can assure you that lots of young folks have survived quite well on their own in Toronto 
(That’s where I went to school back in the stone ages…against MY parents wishes…and ergo, on my own dime :)</p>
<p>My son attended UMich, and loved it – BUT I AM A PR IN MICHIGAN NOW. Had I not been a permanent resident, there is no way on earth I would have financed a UMich degree over say a UT degree (the degree was in music…so that would have some bearing) or worse, encouraged him to indebt himself to do so. </p>
<p>So I mean no disrespect to UMich and the caliber of program, which I know to be very strong. But there is no sane circumstance under which your parents at their present earning level should be funding this type of endeavor when the gains are not significantly different and the expense is proportionally about quadruple any Canadian school.</p>
<p>BTW, in case you’re worried about Canadian degrees being “inferior” – just remember that in math, for example, on the PISA test, Canadian students ranked 8th worldwide, and American students ranked about 38th. Now, in fairness, there are myriad reasons for that – in the US there is a big gap between urban and suburban schools, uneven funding etc. But I’m just trying to give you a little perspective.</p>
<p>So while programs like UMich attract the very tippy top students in math/science from the country, it is unlikely that the material covered is dramatically more advanced than that of the majority of Canadian universities, which are populated by students who overall may have had a more rigorous hs background – especially given the U-credits that replaced grade 13 from the stone age ;)</p>
<p>In essence, every Canadian university EXPECTS incoming students to have secured advance level courses – what in the US would be “college prep” equivalent. The same is not true of, for example, Oakland or myriad other “regional” Michigan colleges – University of Michigan excepted (as you would not get in without rigorous curricular background.)</p>
<p>So UMich is too expensive OOS, and I daresay the balance of “close” (geographical) Michigan colleges may in fact be less rigorous or possibly on par (with some) of the Canadian schools…and all the Canadian schools are cheaper overall, IME.</p>
<p>So, that should simplify matters for you. It’s pretty straightforward.</p>