# Saskatchewan



## ssullivan (Feb 17, 2016)

Hello - I will be moving to Saskatchewan in September 2016 to work at the university. 
I am a Ph.D. married to a Ph.D. We need to find a high school for our son. He will be coming from a private secular school in the US and we need to find work from my partner. 

Any feedback on high schools, living around the univeristy or working (Math)? 

Anything is appreciated.


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

ssullivan said:


> Hello - I will be moving to Saskatchewan in September 2016 to work at the university.


Which one?




> I am a Ph.D. married to a Ph.D. We need to find a high school for our son. He will be coming from a private secular school in the US and we need to find work from my partner.
> 
> Any feedback on high schools, living around the univeristy or working (Math)?
> 
> Anything is appreciated.



There are private schools in Saskatchewan that you can look in to. With regards to publicly funded schools you will find that, in Canada, schools in the same or similar neighborhoods are pretty much the same. In other words, there won't be a significant difference between schools within an upper middle class neighborhood, or from one upper middle class neighborhood to another. There will, of course, be differences between schools in differing socioeconomic areas but those will not be as markedly different as what you would find in the US.

As for your spouse getting a job, she could check at the university, at local colleges, etc. 

And with regards to 'living around the university', which one? You also have to keep in mind that you won't want to live around the university, regardless of which one you are at. The areas surrounding universities, or at least those immediately surrounding them, are almost always student ghettos and I am sure you would not want to live in one of those. I lived in a student area during undergrad but, for my Master's and PhD programs, I made sure that I was well outside of the student areas. I feel comfortable assuming that you wouldn't want to live in a student area either as both you and your wife will have had your fill of them during your undergrad years. How far away from the university you have to go in order to get out of the student areas varies from one university town to the next and I am not familiar enough with either Regina or Saskatoon to comment on their specific situations.


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## ssullivan (Feb 17, 2016)

*thank you*

Thank you for your reply. 

A few questions for folks: 
How are the Canadian public schools? We will be in Saskatchewan. Do the private schools in Canada deliver anything different other than a parochial education? 

What is a reasonable radius to live in for the University of Saskatchewan? With the winter and traffic, what is a reasonable radius to look for a place to live and do folks have opinions about areas that are more or less family-friendly? 

Thank you for your time --


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

ssullivan said:


> Thank you for your reply.
> 
> A few questions for folks:
> How are the Canadian public schools?



Education is a provincial issue, not a federal one, so you cannot generalize by saying 'Canada'. But to generalize myself, they are very good. For further information, see my comments above.




> Do the private schools in Canada deliver anything different other than a parochial education?



What they offer will vary by school. Best to figure out roughly where you are going to be living and then research private schools in that area. The provincial Ministry of Education should have private schools listed on their website. If not, a list will be easily found with a simple Google search.




> What is a reasonable radius to live in for the University of Saskatchewan?


No idea. It depends on how far their student ghetto extends.





> With the winter and traffic, what is a reasonable radius to look for a place to live and do folks have opinions about areas that are more or less family-friendly?



Saskatoon isn't exactly a big city so traffic won't be much of an issue. Traffic isn't bad in the city in Ontario that I live in and it has 2.32 times the population of Saskatoon. Heck, Saskatoon doesn't even crack the top twenty in Canada in terms of population. Traffic isn't likely to be a worry.

Winters in Saskatoon are a different story though. Trust me when I say that it will be cold. But we Canadians are so used to winter that we just shrug off the cold and the snow and get on with things. It might take you some time to adjust, especially if you are coming from the southern US, but the rest of the people in Saskatoon will get by just fine during the winter so the weather won't have much of an impact.


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## WestCoastCanadianGirl (Mar 17, 2012)

You might be interested in this website: Living Saskatoon... it's got all sorts of information about 'toonTown, including information on public schools.

If you've got questions about provincial health care, you can visit the province of Saskatchewan's ehealth website or call them directly at 1-800-667-7551 (toll free from Canada and the US) to inquire about premiums and how long of a waiting period there may be before coverage begins... 90 days is average and I think basic cover is free [i.e. routine Dr's visits, including annual/biannual physical exams/trips to ER etc i.e. if your son trips and cuts himself where he requires stitches, you can take him to ER and they'll treat him and stitch his wound with no co-pay required by you for the visit;]... (I know that some provinces, like BC, charge a monthly premium)... Rx medicines are payable by you - a per item drug cost plus a per item dispensing fee is payable; dental care is payable by you as well but most dentists bill according to the fee schedule set out by the provincial college of dentists; eye health is also payable by you (eye exams, eye glasses etc)... there are exceptions to this for the very young and the very old and those who are on social assistance (welfare). 

I'd advise you to check with the HR department at USask about what kind of extended medical plan they offer (Blue Cross/Blue Shield or similar Canadian equivalent)... depending on the plan that they have, it may cover (or at least part cover) prescription drug costs, dental and eye care, thus reducing the out of pocket expenses to you that aren't covered by the provincial health plan... HR can also tell you what sort of co-pay is applicable for the extended medical plan and what the deductible is before the plan will kick in (when I lived in Vancouver, I had Pacific Blue Cross cover through work... the first CAD $100 in medical bills was payable by me at 100%; after that, PBC covered most things at 80% (or whatever had been negotiated for specifics like dental care), until I had spent CAD $1000; after the $1000 benchmark had been cleared, PBC covered most things at 100%... I had a very medically expensive year one year and they paid for my CPAP machine, for which I was grateful, as that was about CAD $2500 for the machine)


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## colchar (Oct 25, 2011)

WestCoastCanadianGirl said:


> You might be interested in this website: Living Saskatoon... it's got all sorts of information about 'toonTown, including information on public schools.
> 
> If you've got questions about provincial health care, you can visit the province of Saskatchewan's ehealth website or call them directly at 1-800-667-7551 (toll free from Canada and the US) to inquire about premiums and how long of a waiting period there may be before coverage begins... 90 days is average and I think basic cover is free [i.e. routine Dr's visits, including annual/biannual physical exams/trips to ER etc i.e. if your son trips and cuts himself where he requires stitches, you can take him to ER and they'll treat him and stitch his wound with no co-pay required by you for the visit;]... (I know that some provinces, like BC, charge a monthly premium)... Rx medicines are payable by you - a per item drug cost plus a per item dispensing fee is payable; dental care is payable by you as well but most dentists bill according to the fee schedule set out by the provincial college of dentists; eye health is also payable by you (eye exams, eye glasses etc)... there are exceptions to this for the very young and the very old and those who are on social assistance (welfare).
> 
> I'd advise you to check with the HR department at USask about what kind of extended medical plan they offer (Blue Cross/Blue Shield or similar Canadian equivalent)... depending on the plan that they have, it may cover (or at least part cover) prescription drug costs, dental and eye care, thus reducing the out of pocket expenses to you that aren't covered by the provincial health plan... HR can also tell you what sort of co-pay is applicable for the extended medical plan and what the deductible is before the plan will kick in (when I lived in Vancouver, I had Pacific Blue Cross cover through work... the first CAD $100 in medical bills was payable by me at 100%; after that, PBC covered most things at 80% (or whatever had been negotiated for specifics like dental care), until I had spent CAD $1000; after the $1000 benchmark had been cleared, PBC covered most things at 100%... I had a very medically expensive year one year and they paid for my CPAP machine, for which I was grateful, as that was about CAD $2500 for the machine)



If it is anything like Ontario universities, and I have no reason to believe that it won't be, the University of Saskatchewan will provide an _excellent_ extended health package to employees.


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## JT9688 (Jan 19, 2016)

ssullivan said:


> Hello - I will be moving to Saskatchewan in September 2016 to work at the university.
> I am a Ph.D. married to a Ph.D. We need to find a high school for our son. He will be coming from a private secular school in the US and we need to find work from my partner.
> 
> Any feedback on high schools, living around the univeristy or working (Math)?
> ...


Hi I am from Saskatoon and I would suggest that Evan Hardy is a great high school as is Walter Murray. If you are working at the University a great area to live is West College Park which is easy access to both the University and to Evan Hardy School

Hope that helps

/SNIP/


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