Canadian University Tuitions Soar

This article from todays Globe and Mail angers me. In Canada the amount of money students are paying for tuition increases, which is a given what with inflation and a decrease in the amount of money given to the universities by the government. My problem with the tuition hikes are that they seem to be increasing exponentially plus some of the reasons for increasing tuition make little sense.
During my undergraduate studies my tuition went from being 1500 dollars for 4 months to 3000 dollars for 4 months. In 5 years it increase by 100%. I find that ridiculous, though I didn’t really have a problem with it since I was in the co-op program so I made enough money to pay off my tuition and find a place to live with a little bit of money left over. The reasons we were given were (i) less money from the government so we need more money from the students and (ii) the University of Toronto is charging more for tuition so why can’t we? I’m okay with the first point. I’m willing to pay a little more if it ends up going back to the university though I think that the university should also look at restructuring some of its facilities and cut back on the amount of waste that occurs. The second point is echoed by the vice-president of external relations at the University of Calgary in the article as quoted “He said the university is talking about charging more tuition for higher-cost programs in medicine, law and management to remain competitive with other schools in the country. For example, he said, the University of Toronto charges about $15,000 for full-time tuition in medicine, far higher than the University of Calgary, which charges $6,992.“. This argument has always seemed like a load of crap to me. Just one way to attempt to justify the increase in tuition with an unjustifiable reason.
What do these massive tuition hikes mean? Less excessibility for the general public to university education. Less skilled employees. Increase in the average amount of student debt after graduation, which may lead to more people moving to the U.S. since more money can be made there. These are just a few of the problems that can occur. It makes me angry.

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2 Comments

  1. just stopping by to say hey.

  2. Hey Nikki. What happened to the comments on your blog?