The cost of post-secondary in Canada has become too high, and it’s preventing people from pursuing an education.
In Canada, we have developed policies and regulations to ensure that all Canadians, regardless of their backgrounds, are afforded the same opportunities to advance. Nothing more clearly demonstrates this equality than persons from all walks of life enrolling in post-secondary studies.
On the surface, yes, all does appear equal, but on closer examination we may find that disparity still exists.
Students face a potential financial roadblock pretty early on when registering at Camosun, where domestic students cannot use a credit card to pay for tuition fees. The college implemented this change in 2010 as a cost-saving measure, and to avoid cutting student services and programs (other post-secondary institutions also have this policy). But some student programs did end up on the chopping block in 2014, when the college had to come up with some creative solutions to budget deficits and try to save the English as a Second Language program.
Students who rely on financial aid may find themselves unable to fund their education, or to participate fully in available options. For example, unless an internship is mandatory, it does not qualify for financial aid; since many internships are 16 weeks of unpaid work and the fee to participate is $600, many students find this valuable work-experience option beyond their reach.
Additionally, Camosun recently launched the one-year Live Event and Audio-Visual Technician program, aimed at filling the local worker shortage in these industries. However, the program costs $15,250 for domestic students. Since student aid is capped each semester, some students would either have to forego taking this program, find alternate funding options, or increase the amount of loan they take and complete the one-year course in multiple years. Seneca College in Toronto delivers a similar program as a two-year diploma program for an estimated $5,249 per year; it’s slightly cheaper, but there are other benefits to students taking a two-year program. For example, in BC, students qualify for additional grants, such as the completion grant or the low-income grant; these effectively reduce the student loans taken or make up for shortfalls in funding.
While Camosun does offer many bursaries and awards funded by public sponsors, the reality is that applying is not a guarantee one will be awarded, and they are paid out at the end of a semester, not the beginning, when tuition and books are needed.
Although tuition rates have gone up at Camosun, they’ve also gone up across the country in the last decade. And while other provinces have been trying to combat this by looking at ways to reduce student debt and offer free education, the amount of government funding per domestic student has decreased during this same period by as much as 20 percent.
Will the next number to decline be domestic student enrolment?
And what will the future of Canada, and the future of Camosun, look like if a generation of young people find they have to opt out of higher education?