Diploma in Social Service Worker is a diploma in Social & Cultural Studies programme offered by Centennial College in Toronto, Canada. The programme runs for 4 semesters, delivered on campus. Teaching is in English. Tuition for international students is CAD 18,005 per year (CAD 2,775 per year for local students).
Built on principles of anti-oppression and social justice, the two-year diploma builds the knowledge, skills, values and ethical foundations needed to work with diverse individuals, families, groups and communities as a social service practitioner, advocate and agent of social change. Coursework engages with themes including harm reduction, trauma-informed care, advocacy and case management, counselling and interpersonal communication, community development, power and privilege, Indigenous worldviews, anti-Black racism, mental health, and social policy, combining reflective practice and applied skills with the core principles of social service work. Graduates are prepared to work across settings such as government and community agencies, shelters, organizations supporting people with developmental disabilities or autism, food banks, employment centres and settlement agencies, applying a practice framework that addresses needs at micro, mezzo, macro and global levels, examining social policy and its impacts, and using anti-oppressive, strengths-based approaches that support self-advocacy and self-determination.
Requirements
Admission Requirements: An OSSD or equivalent, or mature-student status at 19 or older, with Grade 12 English (C or U) at the stated minimum grade, or Centennial's English Admission Test, plus English language proficiency. No police check is required in order to be admitted, but Centennial notes that most field placement agencies ask for a criminal reference check before a student can be placed. International applicants apply directly to Centennial. Ashtonbee Campus, 2 years over 4 semesters, with September and January starts open to both domestic and international applicants.
Application Details
Start Date:Intakes on this program's own availability table, read 6 September 2026: September 2026 and January 2027, each Available to both domestic and international applicants and each PGWP-aligned. No May start is listed for this program.
Application Deadline:Centennial publishes no application deadline for this program; what follows is the Ontario college cycle that governs it. DOMESTIC applicants apply through ontariocolleges.ca: for a program starting in Fall 2027 the equal-consideration date is 1 February 2027, and applications arriving after it are still assessed, but first-come first-served while places remain. Across the Ontario college system the application opened on 26 September 2026, offers may be issued from 1 November 2026, and an offer must be accepted by 1 May 2027. One $150 fee covers up to five program choices. INTERNATIONAL applicants apply instead through Centennial's ApplyCentennial portal, for which the College publishes no fixed cut-off; it advises applying four to six months before the intended start so there is time for processing and a study permit, and charges a non-refundable $125 CAD application fee.
