Alexander College - Tax Court of Canada considers that a private college does not qualify as a “recognized degree-granting institution” for GST purposes

The ETA states that  a "’university’ means a recognized degree-granting institution or an organization that operates a college affiliated with, or a research body of, such an institution."

A private for-profit B.C. college with a two-year arts program provided "associate degrees," which were recognized as degrees under the Degree Authorization Act (B.C.).  It thus qualified as a university on a literal reading of the definition.

Lyons J nonetheless found that it did not so qualify (so that its tuition fees were subject to HST) on the grounds that:

• income tax cases (e.g., Zailo) treated associate degrees as not being real degrees
• it was prohibited under the Degree Authorization Act from calling itself a university, which suggested that it was not "recognized" as an "institution" by the B.C. government
• the exempting provision (Sched. V, Pt. III, s. 7) also exempts "public colleges," and the definition itself assimilates affiliated colleges to "university," which suggests that "university" is intended to refer to something more than a mere private college.

Neal Armstrong.  Summary of Alexander College Corp. v. The Queen, 2015 TCC 238 under ETA s. 123(1) - university.