Quote:
Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
I don't know why there isn't more of an uproar in English Canada. Maybe because we see that things could be worse. Canada's tuition rates are much lower than our neighbours to the south. In Australia tuition was free until 1988. Now it's, on average, $10,000 USD per year. Whereas here it's a $9,000 USD charge. Quebec on the other hand, look at France or Sweden or other countries where tuition is even lower. The students in Quebec are willing to take to the streets and protest while everywhere else in Canada we'd have these nice little demonstrations about tuition fees, then we'd go home after an hour of having our due diligence and then resign ourselves to paying more.
Personally, I think that there needs to be more merit based scholarships. I had an A- average, but I think I could have done better if I hadn't been working 30 hours a week selling shoes at Kmart to pay tuition, books, lab fees, transportation, meals, etc, etc.. I suppose I could have gotten a student loan, but I look at the situation my sister-in-law was in where she graduated $50,000 in the hole. It's daunting to just be getting your first real job owing that much money. So raise the price of tuition up to $15,000, but take $5,000 and make it into scholarship money for those with high enough marks. And don't go doing what they did with my brother and give him $25,000 a year because he's a brainiac even though his total costs were $20,000 and he spent the rest on video games and PC equipment. Spread it around to those in that A- range so we don't need to work so many hours at minimum wage jobs and can put more time into our studies. And maybe if there is a higher cost, but more scholarships, maybe we won't see as many students spend their first two years partying it up and getting lousy grades.
I know this thread is likely to end up just with Quebec bashing as most dealing with the province do, but I think the issue of education costs and accessibility to higher education is an important issue across the country.
|
I'd be all for merit based scholarships, I think it makes logical sense.I think it would be just as prudent to have a percentage based student loan forgiveness for the banks, and maybe they could get tax credits from the government for encouraging education and excellence.
If I remember and it was 20 years ago, but I get a percentage of my student loan forgiven by the bank based on my good GPA and an early start to payment due to finding a job in my field.
I also got a discount on my first new car that I bought after university because I found a job in my chosen field which was very cool.
As much as people point to free education as some kind of economic bonus, as education has gotten more expensive on a per student basis the government can't continue to just pump increasing money into universities and post secondary institutions, eventually you would get funding stagnation. I agree that its a short term pain for students to pay a nominal tuition but its a 40 year gain for them both in terms of economic and job satisfaction.
Like I said, Students should almost consider their tuition as an investment towards future student education as the government is still paying the vast majority of educational costs.