For parents

Your teen is deciding what to do after Grade 12. Here are the numbers, side by side.

A skilled trade, a college diploma, a university degree, starting something and going straight to work, in the same columns: years, cost, typical debt, what people earn at year 1 and year 5, demand, and the downside nobody mentions. Free, no ads, and nobody can pay to be recommended.

Have your teen take the 5-minute quiz See a sample parent page

How it works, for a family

1
Your teen answers seven questions on their phone: courses, average, how they feel about more school, how soon they need real money, debt they'd accept, whether they'd move, and what they think you expect.
2
They get three options from at least two routes, with identical numbers for each, and a readiness check for the one they like.
3
You get this page, filled in for your family: their three options in plain language, the honest downside of each, and the questions worth asking at the kitchen table. One sheet, prints clean. They send it with one tap, or you open the link they share.

What the same columns look like

Three real pathways from the library, Ontario numbers, so you can see what "side by side" means before your teen starts.

Electrician Apprenticeship

Years5 yrs to Certificate of Qualification (309A)
Cost$2,000
Typical debt$0
Start → year 5$39,000 → $66,000
First paychequeAbout a month

The honest downside: Two to six months of job-hunting before you start is normal. Construction work is cyclical and the first year is a lot of carrying things.

Nursing (RN) University degree

Years4 yrs to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN)
Cost$36,000
Typical debt$30,600
Start → year 5$75,000 → $83,700
First paychequeAbout 4 years

The honest downside: Shift work, understaffing and burnout are serious in Ontario hospitals right now.

Business administration College diploma

Years3 yrs to Ontario College Advanced Diploma
Cost$14,000
Typical debt$16,700
Start → year 5$45,000 → $58,000
First paychequeAbout 3 years

The honest downside: Generic credential; outcomes depend almost entirely on co-op and networking.

Every figure shows its source on the pathway page: Government of Canada Job Bank, Statistics Canada, Skilled Trades Ontario, and published college and university fee schedules. Numbers are verified for Ontario, BC, Alberta and Quebec.

What will it cost your family?

Pick a province, a route and where they'd live. The grant line is a rough guess; your province's estimator gives the real one.

What will it cost? A two-minute estimate

Same figures as the cost guides, rounded. Grants are a rough guess from family income; the only real number comes from your province's estimator.

Province where you'd study What Living Family income (for the grant guess)

Estimated all-in cost of a college diploma, 2 years, living at home in Ontario$15,600about $9,200 after a rough grant estimate of $6,400

Tuition and fees$8,400$4,200 a year

Books and supplies$2,000$1,000 a year

Living at home (contribution, transit, meals out)$5,200$2,600 a year

Grants (not repaid), rough−$6,400$3,200 a year at your income band

Not counted: the years of pay you don't earn while studying (about $38,000 a year for a first job), which is why the pathway pages show net earnings by year 10. Run OSAP, StudentAid BC, Alberta Student Aid or AFE for the real grant.

Questions parents ask

Is it trying to push my child toward a trade?

No. Every route gets the same columns and the same honest-downside line, including the trades. The quiz regularly returns a university option. The point is that the comparison is fair, not that one answer wins.

What do you do with my child's answers?

Nothing unless they ask. The quiz runs on their device. If they choose "Email me this" or ask for introductions, the answers are saved under that email so they can pick up where they left off. Nothing goes to an employer until they say yes to a specific introduction. Under 18s use a parent's email. The privacy page lists exactly what is stored.

Who made this, and who pays for it?

An IT professional in Milton, Ontario, with fourteen years in the field, building this unpaid on evenings and weekends. There are no ads and no organisation can pay to influence what a student sees. The Data page explains how every number is checked.

My child is in Grade 9 or 10. Too early?

The quiz works from Grade 10 up; the course question just has fewer boxes ticked. Save this page and come back in Grade 11, when course choices start to close doors.

What if we're not in Ontario?

Numbers are verified for Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec; pick yours in the "Numbers for" box on any results or pathway page and the figures change. If you're somewhere else, pick your province from the "not verified yet" list: you'll see Ontario figures with a note saying so, and your pick tells us which province to verify next.

Start with the quiz, on their phone

Five minutes. Then ask them to tap "Parent page" on their results, and it lands here, filled in.

Open the quiz