Canada would be an excellent additional option for students looking to apply to the US. Canada has a number of world class universities which are part of a well respected public education system. Each province maintains its own higher education system and applications systems therefore vary. Tuition fees are reasonably priced compared to the US and again vary considerably province by province.
Canada is particularly welcoming to international students and offers opportunities to stay in the country and work after graduation leading to permanent residence and ultimately citizenship.
The U15 Group
The U15 group of Canadian research universities would be a good place to start in researching university options in Canada. The group’s members represent every province and contain those universities that regularly feature in rankings of Top 100 global universities: UBC, Toronto, McGill, McMaster, Montreal and Alberta. https://u15.ca/
The OUAC
The province of Ontario maintains its own application system, the Ontario Universities Application Centre, which allows a group application to any selection of the 21 universities in the province. https://www.ouac.on.ca/
Other provinces require a direct application to the university of your choice.
UBC, Toronto, McGill
UBC, Toronto and McGill remain the highest ranked and most popular of Canadian universities. All are large universities with multiple campuses that offer a comprehensive range of degree options. Numbers of applications has grown so much in recent years that they have found it necessary to introduce early application deadlines and extra admission requirements such as college essays along US lines.