A Submission To NAL from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
(A Brief Note from Niagara At Large – This is important stuff for our children’s future. Niagara At Large will be posting more on this and other examples of “generational theft” when it comes to the children of Canada and America later.)
OTTAWA—Average tuition and compulsory fees for Canadian undergraduate students are estimated to rise almost 18% over the next four years, from almost $6,200 in 2011-12 to over $7,300, says a study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The study looks at trends in tuition and compulsory fees in Canada since 1990, projects fees for each province for the next four years, and examines the impact on affordability for median- and low-income families using a Cost of Learning Index.
“Since 1990, with very few exceptions, the tuition fee burden across the country has been increasing faster than incomes. Between 1990 and 2011 the average annual increase in tuition fees and ancillary fees in Canada was 6.2%—nearly three times greater than the rate of inflation,” says Erika Shaker, co-author of the study and director of the CCPA’s education project.
The study’s Cost of Learning Index clearly demonstrates that provincial governments play a significant role in ensuring university education is more—or less—affordable for median and low-income families, particularly when household debt is at an all-time high and incomes have been stagnant for over two decades.
According to the study, Newfoundland and Labrador is the most affordable province for university education, both for median- and low-income families, while Ontario and Nova Scotia are among the least affordable.
“It is now almost three times more affordable for median-income families in Newfoundland and Labrador to send their children to university than it is for median-income families in Ontario. By 2015-16, that will have increased to four times more affordable,” Shaker says.
The study also looks at how the legislated fee hike in Quebec would have impacted the Cost of Learning, particularly in a province that, through low fees, maintained a strong commitment to affordability in the past.
“Instead of reducing tuition fees, the majority of provincial governments have chosen to provide after-the-fact assistance such as debt relief, tax credits, or zero interest,” says Shaker. “While this can provide some modest relief for students who qualify, it does not help with the upfront costs: you can’t pay your university bill with a tax credit.”
Eduflation and the High Cost of Learning is available on the CCPA website: http://policyalternatives.ca . Also check out http://behindthenumbers.ca/2013/09/13/jeopardy-jackpot-or-wheel-of-misfortune/
(If you dare to share your real first and last names, NAL encourages you to comment in the discussion and debate zone below.)
Niagara At Large 
I believe that the government should set up a low-interest financing vehicle for all students to use, if they choose, to pay for their own education. I am not a fan of profiting from loans made to students.
However, I do not believe that education should be free. If something is free it has no value and will be treated as such.
I also believe that all student grants be eliminated and the savings realized directed towards expanding educational services. Why should any student regardless of background get a grant and graduate without having to pay for their education while their classmates do not? Everyone who graduates from that class are going to make about the same upon graduation.
I personally witnessed grant and loan abuses while in post-secondary school. Seemed the ones that didn`t succeed or had money for booze either had their parents pay for their education or were those who had their education paid for by the government.
I feel that if you work and pay for your education, like I did, you will do what is necessary to complete it because…. it`s your money not free money. I had to succeed because I was on the hook.
Learning that there is no entitlement, that things cost money and that if you want something your going to have to work for it are all good lessons to learn at the beginning of the road of life and adulthood. A lesson that seems to be lost on many of our youth these days.
Just sayin….
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Greg
Do you also believe Corporations should have a free ride with NO TAXES????
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