But, of course, things look very different because of the COVID-19 pandemic. At Canadore College in North Bay, the residences will be half empty, with about 325 students expected to move in.

These colleges have extremely competitive admissions, often accepting less than 10% of applicants. They enroll students from high-income backgrounds more than any other type of institution.

[Read: A Guide to Different Types of College Degrees.] These 20 colleges enrolled an average of nearly 44,300 undergraduate students in fall 2023.