Study in the Americas: 13 countries compared
From the United States and Canada to Brazil, Argentina and the Andes — what each country's government publishes about its universities, and what you can do with it here.
13
countries in the Americas with a section on this site
2
have a matcher: enter your own grades or scores and see where you stand
11
are directories or finders, where no entry data can be reused
Side by side
In alphabetical order, not ranked. Each country counts its institutions in its own way — one lists universities, another every campus or college — so the numbers describe each section, not the size of the country's system.
| Country | What you can do here | Listed | Usual first degree |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | Directory | 125national, provincial & private universities and university institutes | 5 years (licenciatura and professional degrees) |
| Bolivia | Directory — official list | 60public, private, indigenous & special-regime universities | 5 years (licenciatura) |
| Brazil | Matcher on Sisu cut-offs | 2,546universities, university centres, faculties & federal institutes | 4–5 years (bacharelado), 2–3 for a technology degree |
| Canada | Directory | 235universities & colleges | 4 years (Bachelor), 2–3 (college diploma) |
| Chile | Directory — official register | 55universities | 5 years (licenciatura and professional title) |
| Colombia | Directory — 2022 register | 300universities, university institutions & technological and technical institutions (as at 2022) | 5 years (university degree), 3 for a technologist programme |
| Ecuador | Directory + accreditation | 64universities & polytechnic schools | 4–5 years (licenciatura and professional degrees) |
| Mexico | Directory | 2,886universities & institutes | 4–5 years (licenciatura) |
| Paraguay | Directory + accreditation | 57universities | 4–6 years (licenciatura and professional degrees) |
| Peru | Directory + licensing status | 96licensed universities | 5 years (carrera profesional) |
| United States | Full matcher | 1,596four-year colleges | 4 years |
| Uruguay | Directory + programmes | 7universities | 4–5 years (licenciatura and professional degrees) |
| Venezuela | Directory — official list | 160universities, university institutes & colleges | 5 years (licenciatura and professional degrees) |
Where you can match yourself
In these countries the published data includes something to compare your own number with — a cut-off, an average entry grade or how contested a place is. Each quiz says exactly which, and for which year.
North America
Canada
235 universities & colleges
- How you get in
- provincial secondary-school average; each institution sets its own bar
- Taught in
- English, and French in Quebec
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 24% internationalacross the institutions Statistics Canada publishes the split for — the only country here where the international share is known per institution, which matters now that study-permit caps are in force
- What we can't tell you
- Statistics Canada publishes enrolment and graduates per institution, but tuition and graduate earnings only by province and field of study — so we can show you how international an institution is, and not what it costs.
Mexico
2,886 universities & institutes
- How you get in
- each institution sets its own entrance exam; no national cut-off register
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 5.5M studentsacross 2,886 institutions and 5,523 campuses — one of the largest systems in the Americas, and the census counts every one
- What we can't tell you
- Mexico's census gives enrolment, graduates and staff per institution, but the country publishes no per-institution tuition, entry cut-offs or graduate earnings at all — earnings exist only by field of study nationally.
United States
1,596 four-year colleges
- How you get in
- GPA + SAT/ACT, essays, recommendations
- Taught in
- English
- What it costs
- $19,859/yrmedian net price after grant aid, across colleges — the only country here that publishes what families actually pay
- What graduates earn
- $54,869/yrmedian earnings 10 years after entering, across colleges
- For students from abroad
- 346,984 studentsinternational undergraduates across these colleges (median 2% of a campus); out-of-state tuition, the closest proxy for what they pay, runs about $21,114/yr
- What we can't tell you
- Sticker price varies enormously; net price depends heavily on family income.
South America
Argentina
125 national, provincial & private universities and university institutes
- How you get in
- A secondary-school certificate; national universities mostly admit without an entrance exam, some after a preparatory course
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 4.3% from abroad110,906 of 2,608,231 undergraduates are foreign students, reported per institution in the 2024 yearbook
- What we can't tell you
- Undergraduate study at national universities is tuition-free, private fees are not published as data, and there are no entry scores because there is no national entrance exam.
Bolivia
60 public, private, indigenous & special-regime universities
- How you get in
- Each university's own admission exam or preparatory course
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The ministry last published its list of private universities in 2016, and no enrolment, fees or admission figures are available for reuse.
Brazil
2,546 universities, university centres, faculties & federal institutes
- How you get in
- The national ENEM exam, used through SISU for public universities; many institutions also run their own vestibular
- Taught in
- Portuguese
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- 23,029 enrolments of foreign nationalsof 10,227,266 undergraduate enrolments in the 2024 census — counted per course, so not a headcount
- What we can't tell you
- Federal and state institutions are tuition-free, private fees are not in the census, and ENEM cut-off scores are a separate system that isn't part of this data.
Chile
55 universities
- How you get in
- The national PAES admission test, with centralised application to most universities
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Chile publishes fees, vacancies, enrolment and graduates for every programme, but labels them for non-commercial use only — so this is the ministry's register of recognised institutions and nothing more.
Colombia
300 universities, university institutions & technological and technical institutions (as at 2022)
- How you get in
- The Saber 11 state exam, with each institution setting its own admission process
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The openly licensed register dates from July 2022, and the ministry's current enrolment figures and tuition values are under terms that forbid commercial reuse.
Ecuador
64 universities & polytechnic schools
- How you get in
- A national admission process for public universities; private universities set their own
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The ministry's enrolment and programme data is licensed for non-commercial use only, so this is the council's list of authorised universities with their accreditation status and nothing more.
Paraguay
57 universities
- How you get in
- Each university sets its own admission; public universities usually run an entrance course or exam
- Taught in
- Spanish (Guaraní is co-official)
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Paraguay accredits individual programmes rather than universities, and publishes no enrolment, fees or admission figures per university.
Peru
96 licensed universities
- How you get in
- Each university runs its own admission exam; there is no national entrance test
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The regulator's open data covers licensing and programmes; applicants, admitted and enrolled per university come from the statistics office (2024). No fees, and entry scores for part of one university only.
Uruguay
7 universities
- How you get in
- A completed secondary education; the public Universidad de la República has no entrance exam
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- The two public universities charge no undergraduate tuition, private fees are not published as data, and there are no entry scores because the public university admits without an exam.
Venezuela
160 universities, university institutes & colleges
- How you get in
- The national admission system (OPSU) assigns places at public universities; private ones admit directly
- Taught in
- Spanish
- What it costs
- Not published as open data
- What graduates earn
- Not published as open data
- For students from abroad
- Not published as open data
- What we can't tell you
- Venezuela publishes no enrolment, fees or admission figures per institution; this is the national catalogue's list of institutions, which carries no date.
What isn't here, and why
Countries are added only where an official source can be reused on a site like this one. Chile's and Ecuador's fee, enrolment and graduate statistics are licensed for non-commercial use only, so those two are registers without numbers; Mexico's applicants and places per programme sit in a yearbook that reserves all rights; Colombia's current statistics forbid commercial use. Central America and the Caribbean are not covered yet.
Figures are never converted into one currency or ranked across countries: each government measures cost and graduate earnings differently, and every figure above keeps its own definition.
Other regions
Each country's figures come from the source credited on its own pages, under that source's licence. This page adds nothing to them; counts and labels are CollegeMatcher's.