Trouble finding online engineering courses in Canada

[chemengonline]

Hello!

I posted on a forum elsewhere about how I was struggling to figure out my life now that I'm out of an abusive relationship. As a result of the weird controlling aspect of it I wasn't able to make it to my exams in school and flunked out. I just barely got through a few courses before I got into that mess. Someone there linked me to this place and I'm so happy to find it! I'm hoping to find some online resources because I have 2 young children and no family around to help me babysit so I'm working freelance online to pay the bills and being able to do my education online while I'm taking care of the kids would be incredible. Freelance is barely cutting it and definitely wouldn't work if I had to pay for daycare as well. The university has daycare but even with the subsidized price it is too much unfortunately.

While I was still in the relationship I actually got a 2nd chance at everything because I explained the situation to the school but I was still enmeshed and in the fog of it so the same situation ended up playing out again. At this point they would likely not take me seriously (for good reason) if I tried to get another exception made. Totally my fault for sticking around, just wish I knew then what I did now. 

Due to the flunking issue when I apply to other universities I get automatically denied which I totally understand. In high school I had a 95%+ average but I would assume my average in university is somewhere around 50% which is quite depressing. Right now as far as I know the only option I really have (if I'm doing it online anyway) is to find courses online where I don't need a background check (like Athabasca), do well on them and transfer the credit to my old university. This will increase my average and take me off their "special student" status so I'll be able to get student loans again there and hopefully also bring my grades up enough that I can apply to other universities if I need to do so. 

I love process control. I'm looking to get a chemical engineering degree. I got started at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. The only courses I was able to complete were technical report writing, principles of chemistry, organic chemistry, linear algebra 1, and calc 1. 

Here are the required courses for chemical engineering at uOttawa: https://engineering.uottawa.ca/about/pro...mical-2018 
here's an image version as well just in case that website doesn't work: https://i.imgur.com/pMiz90a.png

I know there are quite a few courses there that seem to only exist at uOttawa which is fine, I'm more concerned with the bulk of them. The math, physics, programming, chemistry, etc. courses. If I can get those out of the way then hopefully my kids will be school aged by then and I would be able to go in person to take the remaining classes.

My main worry though is in Ontario, with our government student loans, if you get put on a repayment assistance plan (as I have been) and don't make payments on it for 5 years (as I have done, my income isn't considered high enough to have to repay anything monthly yet) then you cannot take any further loans out until you fully pay it off. Or at least that's what I understand from my panicked reading of the fine print. I'm on year 3 of this, so I'm worried that if I can't get my average high enough to receive student loans again within 2 years then I'll have to find a way to pay $40k+ through my own pocket. Would love to avoid that if at all possible because that would really drag things out.

It looks like I can do a few courses through Athabasca but not enough. I can't find a "full schedule" of 5 different courses to take there without retaking courses I have already done (which I am not opposed to for 1 or 2 that have lower grades). 


Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing or know any places where I could get started? 

Thank you so much. Looking forward to figuring my new life out!

[sanantone]

I'm not familiar with the options in Canada, but I do know of options from regionally accredited schools in the U.S.

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/

Online biology courses. You don't need to earn the degree.
https://www.logan.edu/academics/bachelor...an-biology

The American Public University System offers online programs in natural science, electrical engineering, and mathematics, so they might have some courses you need.

Westcott is not an accredited college, but they apparently have some deal with Brandman University that allows their courses to be put on Brandman's transcript as Brandman courses.

https://westcottcourses.com/courses.html

I don't know if ABET is important when transferring U.S. coursework to Canada. I know that Canada and the U.S. have equivalent psychology accrediting bodies that recognize each other. Unfortunately, there are only online electrical engineering programs with ABET accreditation, but there should be some overlap in the fundamental courses.

https://www.abet.org/accreditation/find-programs/

If you're interested in a future graduate program, Stanford University offers an online MS in Chemical Engineering.

[chemengonline]

I'm not familiar with the options in Canada, but I do know of options from regionally accredited schools in the U.S.

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/

Online biology courses. You don't need to earn the degree.
https://www.logan.edu/academics/bachelor...an-biology

The American Public University System offers online programs in natural science, electrical engineering, and mathematics, so they might have some courses you need.

Westcott is not an accredited college, but they apparently have some deal with Brandman University that allows their courses to be put on Brandman's transcript as Brandman courses.

https://westcottcourses.com/courses.html

I don't know if ABET is important when transferring U.S. coursework to Canada. I know that Canada and the U.S. have equivalent psychology accrediting bodies that recognize each other. Unfortunately, there are only online electrical engineering programs with ABET accreditation, but there should be some overlap in the fundamental courses.

https://www.abet.org/accreditation/find-programs/

If you're interested in a future graduate program, Stanford University offers an online MS in Chemical Engineering.

When I was writing this post I started to consider whether maybe I should look into stuff from the US as well. I'm not really sure of how transfers and things work but thank you so much for these links. I'm definitely going to look into this more. I've heard school in the US is more expensive but I've also heard you guys have state schools which might be on par with our prices here?

Either way thanks again!

[sanantone]

I'm not familiar with the options in Canada, but I do know of options from regionally accredited schools in the U.S.

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/

Online biology courses. You don't need to earn the degree.
https://www.logan.edu/academics/bachelor...an-biology

The American Public University System offers online programs in natural science, electrical engineering, and mathematics, so they might have some courses you need.

Westcott is not an accredited college, but they apparently have some deal with Brandman University that allows their courses to be put on Brandman's transcript as Brandman courses.

https://westcottcourses.com/courses.html

I don't know if ABET is important when transferring U.S. coursework to Canada. I know that Canada and the U.S. have equivalent psychology accrediting bodies that recognize each other. Unfortunately, there are only online electrical engineering programs with ABET accreditation, but there should be some overlap in the fundamental courses.

https://www.abet.org/accreditation/find-programs/

If you're interested in a future graduate program, Stanford University offers an online MS in Chemical Engineering.

When I was writing this post I started to consider whether maybe I should look into stuff from the US as well. I'm not really sure of how transfers and things work but thank you so much for these links. I'm definitely going to look into this more. I've heard school in the US is more expensive but I've also heard you guys have state schools which might be on par with our prices here?

Either way thanks again!

I think this website will help you a lot. It lists about 2,000 online courses offered in Canada.

http://www.cvu-uvc.ca/courses.php?page=s...ge=English

[dfrecore]

I'm wondering if you wouldn't be better off getting a BA degree here in something like Computer Science or Business or even a Liberal Arts Degree, and then try for your Chemical Engineering degree later, since it seems like it would be hard to pay for it.

[chemengonline]

I'm not familiar with the options in Canada, but I do know of options from regionally accredited schools in the U.S.

https://online.une.edu/science-prerequisites/

Online biology courses. You don't need to earn the degree.
https://www.logan.edu/academics/bachelor...an-biology

The American Public University System offers online programs in natural science, electrical engineering, and mathematics, so they might have some courses you need.

Westcott is not an accredited college, but they apparently have some deal with Brandman University that allows their courses to be put on Brandman's transcript as Brandman courses.

https://westcottcourses.com/courses.html

I don't know if ABET is important when transferring U.S. coursework to Canada. I know that Canada and the U.S. have equivalent psychology accrediting bodies that recognize each other. Unfortunately, there are only online electrical engineering programs with ABET accreditation, but there should be some overlap in the fundamental courses.

https://www.abet.org/accreditation/find-programs/

If you're interested in a future graduate program, Stanford University offers an online MS in Chemical Engineering.

When I was writing this post I started to consider whether maybe I should look into stuff from the US as well. I'm not really sure of how transfers and things work but thank you so much for these links. I'm definitely going to look into this more. I've heard school in the US is more expensive but I've also heard you guys have state schools which might be on par with our prices here?

Either way thanks again!

I think this website will help you a lot. It lists about 2,000 online courses offered in Canada.

http://www.cvu-uvc.ca/courses.php?page=s...ge=English

Oh wow. This is incredible. Thank you for linking this to me, I don't even know what to say. I started clicking through the categories and my arms felt weak because I genuinely didn't know there were so many options out there. So happy to see this!

---

I'm wondering if you wouldn't be better off getting a BA degree here in something like Computer Science or Business or even a Liberal Arts Degree, and then try for your Chemical Engineering degree later, since it seems like it would be hard to pay for it.

Yeah, I think this might be a good idea for the student loan issue. I've been weirdly into process control for years so I'm almost hyper focused on it but I've been trying to give some thought to a different type of degree that might be useful but also something I'd be personally interested in enough to excel at.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Welcome, and good luck!

Look for Canadian courses first. Look around using the program and course search engines at cvu-uvc.ca (Canadian Virtual University, a consortium of nine universities across Canada) and studyonline.ca (a service of Contact North, Ontario's distance learning consortium).

If you're looking at US courses, avoid looking at courses other than those taught directly by regionally accredited colleges, and if you have a fairly even choice between a four-year college (grants a bachelor's degree) and a two-year college (community or junior college, highest degree granted is an associate's), go with the four-year.

The University of North Dakota has several professional entry engineering degrees including a BS in Chemical Engineering available partly online, with lab requirements met over short residency sessions. But there might be entirely online courses within the program you could use.

This board talks a lot about of alternative sources of credit from equivalency exams and independent, non-collegiate course providers. These are often lower-cost and more flexible than courses directly from colleges. They have their place, but they're unlikely to be what you want to rebuild your record for a Canadian engineering school.

If you're considering meeting a course requirement in engineering with something from an academic department or course code outside engineering like engineering technology or operations research, check with your engineering program as to whether it'll be accepted.

[nyvrem]

just throwing this option out there, but im not sure if loans will cover this.

Teesside University in UK offers a HNC/HND in Chemical Engineering

http://www.tees.ac.uk/schools/sse/toule_courses.cfm

It's £495 per module for the HNC (8 Mods) followed by the HND (8 mods) - U might get exemptions base on what you've previously studied/work experience. Need to contact the school directly to ask.

Finishing a HND would encompass year 1 and 2 of a BS. in Chemical Engineering degree program in the UK

Thereafter, u can consider doing a BEng in Chemical Engineering from University of Strathclyde

https://www.strath.ac.uk/courses/undergr...elearning/

Alternatively, maybe it would be alot easier to get a BA/BS in Info Sys/IT/Comp Sci via TRU or Athabasca and find a job to pay off your debt, then consider doing a Chem Engineering degree later on when your kids are older.

[sanantone]

Just a warning. I don't know how second degree policies typically work in Canada, but in the U.S., you usually need 30 new credits with most being in the major area of study. If you earn a non-chemical engineering degree, then any of the engineering courses you have already taken may be pushed out of your degree plan to make room for new credits. That means you would have to retake those courses.

[bjcheung77]

OP: Questions, 1) which other forum were you on - Degreeinfo?
2) What's your end goal with your degree? Stay in Chemical Engineering or go into Management, something else?
3) What's your budget set to? What "other" majors are acceptable to you and the field you want to get into?
4) Are you planning to ladder this degree to a Masters? Or use the degree as a prerequisite to the Masters?