by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, Independent Educational Consultants Association

Our spring conference registration opened less than a week ago, and registration is already approaching 250. Early bird discounts end THIS FRIDAY (February 26), so if you are planning to attend our gathering in Toronto (May 12-15), get your registration completed right away. Full details on the conference are posted on the IECA Web site (http://www.iecaonline.com/conferences.html) and additional information, including details on all breakout sessions, will be added to the site in the next few days.

I have gotten a few questions and welcome this opportunity to clarify:

“I really don’t work with Canadian schools or universities (or ‘We don’t really get any students from Canada’). So maybe there won’t be as much for me at this conference.” Hold on!  Just because we are meeting in Canada for the first time doesn’t mean our focus is shifting. Of the first 225 registrants, just 15 are Canadian consultants, schools, or universities. The other 210 are from the U.S. What we expect is full participation by our IECA members from across the U.S. with a bit of an uptick in non-U.S. participation, reflecting how much easier it is for consultants in Asia, South America, and Europe to travel to Canada. We expect all of the schools, colleges, and programs that typically attend IECA conferences to be joining us in Toronto, but with the added bonus of greater participation by Canadian institutions. Remember, school, program, and college representatives from Nova Scotia to Vancouver helped us plan the conference!

“There’s so much going on before and after the conference, I’m still trying to figure out what to do, so I can’t register yet.” Wait a minute! We don’t want you to lose out on the early bird discount. Register for the conference now and get your discount. You can always sign back on using our Web-based registration system and modify your registration. That way you won’t miss the discount. We know there’s a lot going on: pre-conference activities include IECA tours of Ontario universities; special tours of Ontario boarding school and gap year programs; the popular Speed Meetings—actually two of them: one for traditional boarding schools and the other for therapeutic programs; and a pre-conference workshop on LD issues as well as one on Web-based marketing. Whew!! Post-conference activities include TWO different college tours: one of universities in upstate New York and the other in Nova Scotia. There’s a school tour in Nova Scotia as well.

“I just got a conference/tour price list via e-mail and it looks like the prices really went up.” NO! That was an e-mail from some other association! Don’t be confused. The cost of our three-day college tours (pre- or post-conference) is still just $95—not the $200 the other group charges. Our conference fee for members, including meals and special events and even including a pre-conference workshop, is unchanged at $395 ($370 early bird)—not the $595 the other group just e-mailed for their conference and pre-conference registration. IECA works hard to keep our costs as low as possible (with thanks to our conference sponsors). As proof: our membership dues have not changed in 30 years! Finally, even non-members can save a bundle. Our conference and pre-conference workshop full registration for non-member consultants is $530—not the $745 others are charging, according to that e-mail. Of course, cost is just part of the story. We are confident that everyone will get a great deal out of participating in the IECA conference: amazing speakers, great educational sessions, and lots of opportunities for networking.

by Alexander Leipziger, Research and Academic Relations Associate, Public Affairs, Embassy of Canada

Born and raised in the Washington metro area, I never thought I’d go to college abroad. It’s not that I wasn’t internationally-minded, in fact quite the opposite: By the time I was a junior in high school, I’d had the opportunity to visit 4 other continents. But I’d just never known anyone who’d gone abroad and my college counselors were similarly unaware. So for me, Canada wasn’t an option I knew existed.

It was in this insulated state that my dad first raised subject of Canadian schools. His sales pitch was simple: schools in Canada were of high quality, very affordable and an excellent alternative to some of the high-priced private institutions I was then considering.

To make a long blog post short, I visited, fell in love with both the city of Toronto and the downtown campus at U of T, and matriculated in the fall of 2002. I had other choices including: Washington University in St. Louis, University of Wisconsin, and William & Mary, but ultimately the allure of something unique, but not too different won out.

Now I’ll save my experiences at Toronto for another posting, but suffice it to say that I enjoyed it so much that I’m now back in Washington, working at the Canadian Embassy promoting Canada as a study destination for American high schools students. A job I’m uniquely qualified to do.

by Marilyn G.S. Emerson, IECA (New York)

I just returned from a tour of ten Nova Scotia universities organized for college counselors by EduNova. I highly recommend this tour to my colleagues.

Twenty one counselors, both educational consultants and high school guidance counselors, from the USA and abroad participated. Five (one quarter) of the twenty-one attendees are IECA members: Valerie Broughton. Susan Edwards, Ann Montgomery, Laurie Nash and me.

We learned that Nova Scotia schools can present an attractive, cost-effective alternative, providing students with a university education for less than $25,000 a year, inclusive of tuition, room and board and other fees. Aid is available to both international and domestic students to offset some of this cost.

Here are some tidbits from the tour:
Acadia University – offers an accelerated three-year business program and has a program to keep parents involved.
Cape Breton University – offers experiential learning and also has a campus in Cairo.
Dalhousie University – offers the opportunity to combine areas of study in novel ways that make sense to the student and has had 86 Rhodes Scholars.
University of King’s College –offers a great books foundation year and is the oldest English speaking college in Canada.
Mount Saint Vincent University – offers a major in public relations and has a University Bridge Program for students who need to strengthen their English.
Nova Scotia Agricultural College – offers a program in environmental horticulture and has a 13 million dollar poultry research facility.
Nova Scotia College of Art (NSCAD) – offers a minor in fashion and has a gallery for student work.
Saint Mary’s University – offers an AACSB accredited business school and their students come from 90 different countries.
St. Francis Xavier University – offers an aquatic resource program and houses the Coady Leadership Development Institute.
Universite Sainte Anne –offers students the opportunity to learn in French and has a summer immersion program.

I had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to meet with two officials of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC to explore Canadian options for teens in the U.S. and abroad. What I discovered are two professionals committed to adolescent opportunities and enthusiastic about outreach to IECA member educational consultants.

I learned much in my conversations with Dr. Daniel Abele (daniel.abele@international.gc.ca), the head of research and academic relations at the embassy, and Alexander Leipziger who works in public affairs in the same department. Alex was a Virginia high school student who went to college in Canada, so when he speaks it is both with the authority of his work at the embassy and the passion of his own experiences. Both noted that ten or fifteen years ago a small number of Americans went to study in Canada and most sought specific programs in large universities. Today, many more from the States—as many as 9,000—study in Canada’s universities, both large and small from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

As expected, many seek to study there because of the strength of the U.S. dollar resulting in a less expensive alternative to private colleges or out-of-state tuition in the United States. Others choose Canada for the environmental and cultural opportunities, among others. Alex explains that the greatest concern he hears from parents is about whether a degree awarded in Canada will be accepted by U.S.-based companies and graduate schools. He assures families that degrees granted in Canada are considered equal to degrees awarded stateside.



There is additional evidence of the commitment Canadian Universities have made to working with consultants. Fully half of the participants in this summer’s counselor tour of colleges in Nova Scotia, sponsored by EduNova are IECA members, and next fall IECA will be coordinating tours of Ontario colleges, with additional tours in other provinces quite likely. In May, IECA’s annual spring conference will be held in Toronto and colleges throughout the area, along with schools and programs, will be joining in the planning. I am thrilled to state that college representatives from both coasts—Nova Scotia and British Columbia—have already agreed to attend a planning meeting to help make the gathering a nationwide event. We hope to reach out to schools and colleges in the Quebec province as well.
 All of this comes at a time when parents are looking at affordability as well as “match issues” for their child’s education. We are fortunate that Canadian colleges are reaching out and helping to educate educational consultants at a time when the breadth and quality of schools throughout the country are worth a second look by all high schoolers in the U.S.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director