Help Paying for the CAEC in Atlantic Canada

Nova Scotia: free for residents

Nova Scotia offers the CAEC free to residents, as it did with the GED.

• Free prep: the province points learners to an interactive map of Community Learning Organizations that offer CAEC preparation courses, and the Nova Scotia School for Adult Learning partners with some of them to offer fully subsidized preparation classes.
• One rule if you wrote the GED: you cannot rewrite a CAEC subject for which a previously written GED test has been awarded.
• Contact: 1-877-466-7725 or caec@novascotia.ca.

New Brunswick: free prep classes

• Who can write: residents 18 or older. Home-schooled applicants who are at least 17 may be considered, and there is an age exemption form.
• Free prep: the Community Adult Learning Program runs free CAEC preparation courses in English and French in communities around the province. Contact WorkingNB for a referral and an intake assessment.
• The test fee: New Brunswick’s CAEC page does not state a test fee, and we will not guess one. Ask WorkingNB when you register: 506-444-2525, weekdays 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Other fees: administration fees are non-refundable. A replacement diploma is $10 and a replacement transcript is $5.

Prince Edward Island: ask before you book

PEI’s CAEC administrator answers questions about fees, eligibility, and testing at CAEC@gov.pe.ca or 902-368-4650. We could not confirm PEI’s current test fee from a government page at the time of writing, so ask before you book.

For employment and skills programs, including support for job seekers, SkillsPEI has a general line at 1-877-491-4766.

Newfoundland and Labrador: $6 a test

• Cost: $6 per test, so $30 for all five, paid online when you register. You can write each subject up to three times a year.
• Who can write: legal residents who have not graduated from high school and are not enrolled in high school, aged 19 or older, or 18 with an approved age waiver.
• How to register: create a candidate account, pay online, then contact your testing centre. In the metro region, that is Thrive at info@thrivecyn.ca or 709-754-0536. Elsewhere, contact CAEC@gov.nl.ca or 709-729-7925.
• Free prep: the province’s CAEC page posts sample tests for all five subjects and practice workbooks.

Help beyond the test fee

In all four provinces, the test is the cheap part. If you receive income assistance or work with an employment counsellor, ask what support is available for getting to classes, child care, and study time while you prepare.

If you are First Nations, Inuit, or Métis

The federal Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program (ISET) funds training through local Indigenous organizations across Canada, and it includes urban and non-affiliated Indigenous people. Each organization decides what it supports, so ask yours directly what it can cover for CAEC preparation and testing. The government keeps a directory of these organizations by province and territory.

Sources

Every fee, rule, and program in this guide comes from these official pages, checked in September 2026.

• Government of Nova Scotia: The Canadian Adult Education Credential
• Government of New Brunswick: Canadian Adult Education Credential
• Government of New Brunswick: Academic upgrading
• Government of Prince Edward Island: Canadian Adult Education Credential
• Government of Prince Edward Island: SkillsPEI
• Government of Newfoundland and Labrador: CAEC high school equivalency
• Government of Canada: Indigenous Skills and Employment Training Program