Previous  1  2  3  4  5  Next

in a sense it wouldn't be available to all, only those with the marks to get in and those who can maintain their marks to stay in. Intelligence and hard work would be the determining factor rather than mere money. This benefits all of society.

   

You could have mentioned Germany as an example of free post secondary (including foreigners) but chose Russia instead. Why?

   

We already have bursaries and scholarships.
People can expand that those programs, instead of expecting the State to pay for all..

as usual.

   

I would have the state pay and then have a period of 'indentured service, say 5 years like the military has for officers that go through RMC and formerly RRMC. Actually I had been accepted into RRMC, but the idea of another 9 years didn't appeal to me. In the end going to UVic instead worked out better for me. My cousin did his engineering degree at RMC and it worked out well for him. He thought I was nuts for turning down RRMC.

   

Because it isnt free anymore, in many states students now pay.

Also, universities in Germany dont have subsidized housing for students.
We do, and so the East countries.

   

I just read that Canadians are still going to Germany to study because it's free. Wll except for $200 for transit and beer or something. But Germany intends to close that loophole and make it free only for citizens.

I do agree with you that increasing scholarships and bursaries is the way to go. And have good student loans in place, with some forgiveness if the person really can't find work.

   

I agree that many students live beyond their means. When I got my bachelors degree in the 90s, it was fairly common for people to head to Mexico (or somewhere else tropical) for reading week. If they couldn't afford Mexico at $1500, many went skiing in the Rockies for a $500 or so.

However, that still doesn't address the fact that funding for post-secondary education has decreased drastically and the cost students bear can be as much as three times what their predecessors did in the 90s.

I understand that life isn't fair, but my argument is that by creating a generation with such massive debt levels at graduation, we're hurting our economy long term because they have less ability to buy the large ticket items that our economy depends upon to grow.

   

And it doesn't mean that all those students were living off student loans, in fact I bet few were. Many got their parents to pay, or used their own money. Student loans just don't pay enough to go to Mexico on. I means some students were coming to school in their Porsche 928's while I rolled up in my Corolla. Not all students are poor.

   

As far as I know, there isn't a high school in the world capable of teaching a profession to someone (doctor, lawyer, pharmacist, dentist, etc).

Some are capable of teaching things like accounting and even trades work (one high school in Edmonton is fairly well known for the mechanic students it turns out). Although, if I ran a business, I'd be leery of hiring a kid out of high school to do my taxes...

Still, I do agree that better high school education would help people who can't afford/decide not to go onto post-secondary education.

In Canada the problem is that schools are provincially run, so schools in wealthier provinces tend to get better education due to better facilities and instructors, while those in less wealthy places tend to get less of an education. That is an issue in the US too, where richer school districts have much better teachers and school facilities than those in poorer districts (usually where large numbers of minorities live).

   

But, most Canadians, and even Ontario residents, still get an excellent education at an affordable cost (between $3,000 and $6,000 for full-time tuition, Canadian student - and tuition certainly isn't 3 times the amount from the 90s to now in Ontario.)

Factor in residence and it's about 11,000 for the year. AND a summer job should alleviate some financial strain, coupled with fiscal responsibility and the debt load should be manageable.

All i'm saying is that when you hear about these kids shouldering massive amounts of student debt, i'd like to see the whole story - did they spend on MacBook Pros, drinking, clothes, vacations, unaffordable housing, extra courses? I'd wager that the ones with this insurmountable balances weren't quite as fiscally responsible as they'd tell you.

   

OK, but the number of seats should be controlled in such areas as Law. The number of seats in most other areas needs to be increased. Well, anyway, I'm back to the bush till Monday. See you guys later.

   

If we need more doctors, yes. If they are what our society needs, yes.

   

Well, I can't argue with you here, never having been to Eastern Europe. However, I do remember the hoopla about the Celtic Tiger and how they were doing so well. We were never told that part of that was due to free higher education. They took some of Uncle Miltie's philosophy but ignored other parts. It was the parts of his creed they did use that got them into so much doo doo.

   

Well, I can't speak to education costs in Ontario, but at the University of Alberta, a bachelor of arts/science degree went from around $1100/year in the early 90s to close to $3300/year now - that's pretty much three times by my calculations. Of course, inflation has to be factored in, but that increase far exceeds inflation - even here in boom time Alberta.

http://www.registrarsoffice.ualberta.ca ... px#general

And that doesn't include books - which usually cost hundreds of dollars more.

I agree that post-secondary costs are not outrageous (like many US universities are), but they have increased substantially over the past 20 years. My issue is that our current governments (both provincially and federally) do not value post secondary education in the same way that previous governments did, and that has the potential of damaging our economic growth long term. Not only are lots of students graduating with massive debt, we also risk falling behind the rest of the world (due to issues like the knowledge economy and globalization).

   

As I said, all we have to do is make more spaces available (they're already subsidized) People will fill them even if they have to pay the current fees. The return on investment is just too good. And we already have programs in place to forgive loans for doc that are willing to practice where docs are really needed. We should just expand that program.

   

Previous  1  2  3  4  5  Next