Sheridan, Humber, Seneca and Conestoga: Ontario's Degree-Granting Colleges Explained

How an Ontario college earns the right to grant a degree

Ontario universities get degree-granting authority written into their founding legislation, covering every program they run. Colleges do not get that blanket authority. A college that wants to offer a bachelor's degree applies to the Postsecondary Education Quality Assessment Board (PEQAB) , which reviews the proposed program's curriculum, faculty qualifications and resources against Ontario's quality standards. PEQAB sends its recommendation to the Minister of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security, who decides whether to grant Ministerial Consent for that specific program.

This means degree authority at a college is never institution wide. Sheridan, Humber, Seneca and Conestoga each hold consent for a defined list of individual degree programs, and any new degree program goes through the same review before the college can offer it.

Degree, diploma and certificate, side by side

These four colleges still run their full range of diplomas, advanced diplomas and certificates, and most students at each school are enrolled in one of those, not a degree. A bachelor's degree program at the same college usually runs an extra year or two beyond the matching diploma, and adds a capstone project or thesis-style research component the diploma version does not require.

Some programs let a diploma graduate move directly into the later years of the matching degree, provided their grades clear the program's entry cutoff. That pathway is one of the practical reasons students choose a college that offers both credentials in the same field.

Why some of these colleges now use "Polytechnic"

Humber and Seneca both changed their public names to include "Polytechnic" (Humber Polytechnic and Seneca Polytechnic), reflecting a mix of degrees, diplomas, certificates and apprenticeship training under one roof. Sheridan (formally Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning) and Conestoga (formally Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning) kept "College" in their public branding while running the same PEQAB-approved degree structure. The legal framework under Ontario's college system did not change with either rebrand.

How to tell a degree program from a diploma at these schools

Check the exact credential title on the program page. A genuine degree is titled "Bachelor of X". An "Advanced Diploma", "Diploma" or "Graduate Certificate" is not a degree, even when it sits in the same department as one. If you need to confirm a specific program's approval status directly, PEQAB publishes its list of consented degree programs on its website, searchable by institution.

What this means for your application

Apply to a degree program at these colleges the way you would apply to a university degree: check the exact prerequisite courses and grade requirements on the program page, since they differ from the entry requirements for the diploma version of the same subject. If your goal is graduate school later, ask the receiving program directly whether it accepts applicants from a PEQAB-approved college degree, since the answer depends on the specific master's program, not a blanket rule about college degrees.

Cost considerations

Tuition for a degree program at these colleges is set independently by each institution and generally differs from a comparable university degree, though the gap varies by program. Because these degree programs sit within a college's broader fee structure, a bachelor's degree at Sheridan, Humber, Seneca or Conestoga can cost less than the same subject at a university, particularly when a paid work term is built into the program. Confirm the current fee schedule directly on the specific program page, since tuition changes by year and by program.

Common misconceptions

A frequent misconception is that any credential from a college with degree-granting status is automatically a degree. It is not. The consent PEQAB grants applies to the specific program, not the whole institution, so the same college can offer a PEQAB-approved "Bachelor of Business Administration" alongside a "Business Administration Diploma" that has no degree status at all. Another misconception treats "Polytechnic" in an institution's name as a legal upgrade to university status. It is not. Humber Polytechnic and Seneca Polytechnic remain colleges under Ontario's college legislation, and their degree authority still comes from individual PEQAB consents, not from the name change.

Applying as a transfer or mature student

These colleges commonly accept students transferring credit from another college or university program, and many accept mature student applicants without a full high school prerequisite record. Transfer credit and mature student pathways are assessed program by program, so contact the specific college's admissions office to find out how your existing credits or work experience would apply toward a specific degree program before you apply.

Where these credentials fit outside Ontario

A PEQAB-approved degree is recognized across Canada the same way any other Ontario-approved credential is, since the province's quality assurance process is what other provinces and employers rely on to judge the credential's legitimacy. If you plan to work or study outside Ontario after graduating, keep your program's PEQAB consent details and transcript on hand, since an employer or university outside the province may not be familiar with PEQAB and will want to see the specific approval on record.