Abolish Post-Secondary Tuition Fees
Thesis:
Tuition fees at the post-secondary level should be eliminated to lighten the load of university and college students and promote a more competitive and advanced society.
Kaio Kathriner
March. 3, 2010
315033
English 12
Mr. Coolbaugh
Works Cited
“Buy Now Pay Later: Canadians in Debt.” cbc.ca/news. 14 March 2010.
“Canada’s Climbing Tuition Fees.” cbc.ca. 4 March 2010.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/interactives/map-tuition-fees/
“Free Education.” absoluteastronomy.com. 15 March 2010.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Free_education
“Provincial Gap in Tuition is Growing.” theglobeandmail.com. 15 March 2010.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/provincial-gap-in-tuition-fees-is-growing-statscan-finds/article1331621/
“Student Debt in Canada.” cfs-fcee.ca. 25 March 2010
“Student Loans in Canada.” wikipedia.org. 15 March 2010.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_loans_in_Canada
“University Tuition Fees.” statcan.gc.ca. 25 March 2010.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/071018/dq071018b-eng.htm
In BC, tuition fees have risen by 174 percent, going from $1808 from 1990-91 to $4960 in 2006-07 (CBC.ca).
The post-secondary tuition fees have increased drastically all over Canada in these few years. These tuition increases have prohibited potential students to take part in their program of choice, which allows wealthy, unworthy students to replace them. It also tends to dig graduates deep in debt from student loans. In other education systems, a government-funded post-secondary system has allowed for free and equal education on a more competitive scale, due to higher tax rates. Tuition fees at the post-secondary level should be eliminated to lighten the load of university and college students and promote a more competitive and advanced society.
The Term Paper on University Tuition Fees
Some University Policy makers have viewed the increased college tuition fees as a means of dealing with the economic crisis of the early 2000s. The need for universities more resources have also increased. In addition, the facilities needed for technical courses such as engineering are necessary and the institution cannot offer such courses without proper facilities. To be able to finance such ...
Everyone wants an education, but not everyone has the money to spend on an increasing post-secondary tuition. Canadian full-time graduate students from the faculty of medicine paid an average of $7,168 in tuition fees for the 2007/2008 academic year (statcan.gc.ca).
In the case of some families where there are three children, it is almost impossible to send each through a four-year, $28,000 program. Some of these would-be degree graduates therefore can’t attend their post-secondary institution of choice, due to insufficient finances. Now, there are more seats up for grabs in these programs; this leaves the door open for students from wealthy families who can easily afford to attend a post-secondary school, resulting in less competition. The students who are most qualified, not the ones who are fortunate enough, should be accepted into their respective program. This less competitive system may result in a less driven and educated population; thus, society could suffer in the long run.
Once a student has been accepted into a university, college, or institution, they must now deal with the dreaded feeling of debt. With these always-increasing tuition fees, science and medical students are often graduating with an accumulated debt of $250,000 or more (CBC.ca/news).
(I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a lot of money – enough to buy a starter home!) These students must now find employment, a place to live, and for some, start families with this overwhelming debt on their shoulders. Contributing to this vast amount is the fact that there is interest on any unpaid student loans once the student is no longer in school full-time (Wikipedia.org).
The Term Paper on Gender Inequality and Post-Secondary Education in Canada
Historically, gender differences have been at the core of social and economic injustice and women have faced fundamental disadvantages (Tepperman & Curtis, 2011, p. 351). Despite recent changes in formal equality – the introduction of protection for women in the Constitution Act, 1982 and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, for example - informal barriers are still present which lead to the ...
Student debt has been driving committed young doctors away from family practice and young lawyers away from the public service due to their immediate need for finances. These distorted career choices have an impact not only on individual professionals but also on access to health care and legal services for all Canadians (cfs-fcee.ca).
These debts can be completely avoided in a different system of post-secondary education, such as in Switzerland or Australia (absoluteastronomy.com).
These countries have a government-funded system that allows for free and equal education. Because mostly anyone can apply for post-secondary, only the best, most qualified applicants may actually receive that education. This allows for more competition; therefore, graduates usually are smarter, better, and more qualified to do their job. “Somebody has to pay for it. The question is how much comes from the public purse,” (Usher, theglobeandmail.com).
It is logical that if everyone pays a little more for taxes, it’s worth it for students to get a fair, free education; this approach benefits the students and society in general.
Post-secondary tuition fees are an unnecessary weight that students are forced to carry. Undeserving students get a passport to education while others are denied; life as a student is getting increasingly harder, and graduates are drowned in debt. What if tuition fees continue to increase as foreseen? How will students get a fair education and how will our society continue to educate the youth so that there are intelligent people who know what they are doing? Abolishing tuition fees by making education government-funded is the only solution, for other countries have successfully done just this. Why can’t Canada do the same?
