One difference is pro draft eligibility. If you're a football player and declare yourself draft eligible (meaning you intend to jump into the NFL draft pool), it voids your collegiate eligibility. That's not the case in college hockey.
Gee, I guess current NHL players like David Backes, Tim Thomas and John-Michael Liles must've missed the memo.
The CHL does have a good educational package, no argument there, but it is also limited. (And yes, I have extensively studied the WHL package since it affects that future players from my home state of California. I would venture to guess that those of the OHL and QMJHL are similar.)
As another poster pointed out, you get one year for every year played. However, the catch is that if a WHL player (I would assume same holds true for the OHL and QMJHL players) signs a pro contract, the package is voided.
What many people here either don't get (refuse to understand) is that NCAA college hockey scholarships situations vary depending on the school and player. Here are some examples:
1) the Ivy League schools such as Cornell and Yale do not offer scholarships, simply because they can't understand Ivy League (not NCAA) rules.
2) not every player on an college hockey roster playing for a school that hands out scholarships are on scholarship. These players are known as "walk-ons".
3) Some schools (one example here is Ohio State) will continue to honor scholarships (at least the tuition part of it) of former players who chose to return to the school later..even after having played professionally.