Essentially, the article above is about how post-secondary students were once again left out of the federal budget. That despite the fact that tuition fees are reaching an all-time high and constantly climbing, no new student financial aid initiatives were made in the 2012 budget (Godmere, 2012).
I’ll
kick this blog off with a question: what have you done to pay your tuition to
get into Algoma University? Some of you have probably been working and saving up
for quite some time. Maybe a few of you opened a Student Line of Credit or made
a loan (hello debt). As you sit there and wonder “is it worth it?” as I’m sure
you have, most people would dubiously answer “yes”. But in reality, no one can answer
that question with exactitude, for in our day of economic downturn, we find a lot of
highly educated people flipping burgers (not to be Debbie Downer). However, can one
really put a price tag to education and a future career? Perhaps not… to a
certain extent.
According
to the 2012 Guide to Education Costs in Canada, the average student pays 42,000$ on a standard four year program in University; this is
without residence or any of the extra living cost, strictly tuition. For those
that choose to live in residence, the average would be hiked up to 71,800$ for the same
amount of schooling (Knowledge First Financial, 2012). Those of you living in residence… starting to wish you
stayed at home yet? Unfortunately that’s not an option for most of us.
The
next extrapolated fact is not for the faint of heart. Unless, like my own, your future plan is to
marry into A LOT of money, or if you’re the secret grandchild of
Bill Gates, you might want to disregard these coming few lines and skip to the next paragraph. According to the same Guide to Education Costs
in Canada, we’re looking at a whopping 116,200$ (with residence) in 2030. (Knowledge First Financial, 2012). Though
it may seem far away, for all you first years in or nearing your 20s, that will
be the price you pay to send every single one of your children to University
for just four years. And who knows? Maybe a Bachelor’s degree will mean nothing by
that time. Just twenty years ago, pursuing your post-secondary
education wasn't a requirement. Going to college back then was BIG. Nowadays,
it’s a societal and, generally, a familial expectation. Maybe by the time our
children get to University, we’ll be paying double of what I just said so they
can go through eight years of school to keep up with the standards of the harsh “Real World”.
I’m
not trying to discourage prospective or current parents into sending their
children to post-secondary schools. Simply trying to state that, ONE HUNDRED SIXTEEN THOUSAND
DOLLARS IS INSANE. I mean, I know I shouldn’t have a problem sending my
children to school when the time comes considering that my husband will be the
CEO of an international airline or the inventor of the teleportation machine,
but I am worried about the rest of you less ambitious folk.
All gold-digging jokes aside, something needs to be done. If the government adds to the tuition fees over the coming years, most of us will probably be frustrated (to say the least) at the fact that the people we call our subservient leaders have yet again crossed a line. Although, it would appear as though they cannot perceive the line, and it is up to us students to draw it. The students in Quebec took a stand when word had been heard that the tuition fees would be heightened. As you can see in the table below (Statistics Canada, 2012), the Quebec tuition fees are eclipsed by Ontario's. "There are many situations of social injustice and group discrimination where the majority of disadvantaged group members appear to passively accept their situation."
So why do we stand by? It is up to us students to
say when we’ve had enough of paying tens of thousands of dollars for an education that should be made accessible without pushing students into living in poverty. "Faced with dwindling government support, higher education institutions had to increase
their tuition revenues."(Fortin, 2004).
We need to adopt a more socialist way of thinking when it comes to tuition fees and education. As it values freedom and equality, it should not only be the wealthy and privileged of the "ruling class" that are promised a post-secondary education, but all people of every class. So have you had enough? Or the better question is, will you have enough ($) to send your (maybe) children to school when the time comes?
We need to adopt a more socialist way of thinking when it comes to tuition fees and education. As it values freedom and equality, it should not only be the wealthy and privileged of the "ruling class" that are promised a post-secondary education, but all people of every class. So have you had enough? Or the better question is, will you have enough ($) to send your (maybe) children to school when the time comes?
References
Godmere, E. (March 31, 2012). Students largely left out of federal budget: despite focus on research and innovation, no new student aid initiatives announced in budget 2012. The Sheaf. Retrieved December 3, 2012 from http://thesheaf.com/2012/03/31/students-largely-left-out-of-federal-budget-despite-focus-on-research-and-innovation-no-new-student-aid-initiatives-announced-in-budget-2012/
The Cost of Post-secondary Education. Knowledge First Financial. Retrieved December 4, 2012 from http://knowledgefirstfinancial.ca/Public/csp/resource.aspx?pageID=106&versionID=5565&fileName=CostGuide_EN.pdf
Average undergraduate tuition fees for Canadian full-time students, by province. Statistics Canada. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/120912/t120912a001-eng.htm
Fortin, N. (May 2004). Rising Tuition and Supply Constraints: Explaining Canada-U.S Differences in University Enrolment Rates (Working Paper 66). Berkeley, CA: Center for Labor Economics. Retrieved December 10, 2012 from http://cle.berkeley.edu/wp/wp66.pdf
Giguere, B & Lalonde, R. (November 2, 2012). Why Do Students Strike? Direct and Indirect Determinants of Collective Action Participation. Political Psychology. Retrieved December 14, 2012, from http://spresearch.ca/bgiguere/sites/default/files/Giguere_Lalonde2010.pdf
~ Valerie
