I'm sorry I haven't been posting! My life is in chaos right now, which really isn't a good excuse but yeah, chaos.
I have tonnes to do to get ready for school in the fall, which I'm freaking out about and stressing about, but hardly any of it can even be done yet. It's too early to pay my deposit (which I found out after phoning student finance like five times), I can't make my visa application until I've met all the conditions of the school's offer to me, one of which is paying my deposit (which is the only one I have left to meet), student loan applications aren't available until June so at least that's coming up soon, and I won't be sent any materials lists until July or something silly like that.
Pretty much the only thing I'm able to do right now (other than stress) is work and save up money. The problem is my current job is giving me less than ten hours a week so I have to get a second job to help supplement. So pretty much I just keep looking for jobs and applying for jobs and not hearing back on any of them and so looking for more and applying for more and still not hearing anything and getting frustrated and more stressed and I'm already going to have so much student loan debt and I just need a full time job to help lessen the amount of debt I'm going to be in since I'm going into the arts and won't exactly end up with a fantastic paying job after school to cover all the debt for school but I don't really care because I want to do what I love not what will make me rich but money sucks and I'm stressed!!!! :S
Sorry, just needed to rant there. But actually, that made me think of something somewhat interesting to talk about.
I don't know if this has been on the news outside of Canada at all but for the past few months there's been a lot going on in Quebec. Basically the Quebec government decided that they needed to raise tuition fees at post secondary institutions. The proposed increase would be (if I remember correctly) $200 per year over three years.
Well, the students in Montreal (Quebec's largest city) were very upset with this news and decided to protest the increase. Students went on strike and have been swarming the streets holding protests and demonstrations every day, nothing too violent but it's all been closely monitored by the police, student leaders have been in meetings and negotiations with the government, and classes have been suspended until some kind of agreement is reached.
I have mixed opinions on the whole affair. On the one hand I think that the Quebec students are being spoiled little babies, even after the increases their tuition fees would still be the lowest in the whole country, the majority of them probably don't even have to consider the burden of student loans to afford their education. On the other hand though, having to deal with ridiculously expensive tuition fees, I appreciate what they're trying to do and hope that the notion of post secondary education being affordable will spread elsewhere. And if that's the case I hope they keep fighting the good fight.
Many of you are already in, or starting, university/post secondary so what are your thoughts on the matter? Do you think that governments should be doing more to make post secondary education affordable for all or should it be an individual's responsibility? And do you agree with the extreme protests of the Montreal students?
DFTBA,
-Kim
Hey, I feel your pain-- I'm going to a very expensive private school and not exactly looking at a lucrative career (also in the arts) after school. Student loans are racking up. :( blehh. But unless you're one of those people who gets to college and then wastes all their time partying or whatever (which I'm sure you're not) I think it's worth the pain.
ReplyDeleteAs for the whole affordable tuition thing, I'm not really sure where I stand. What's the reason for the increase? Would there be tangible benefits for the students? What percentage of the whole tuition cost is $200, and would it realistically affect very many people's chances of attending college? I guess I'd have to know the actual impact of the proposed plan before I can approve or disapprove of the students' reactions. Looking at it now, I think I'm probably with you-- kind of torn on the subject.
As for your more general questions, I guess I'd probably lean more toward giving the responsibility to the individual. I'm usually inclined to think that government interference can be dangerous and should be avoided. That said, I would want the government (or the schools) to provide at least some financial aid to students who genuinely need it. (I know that can get sticky too, but it seems the most fair solution to me). For instance, I would not be able to afford my school without a very generous need-based grant given to me by the college.
Just my little thoughts. I hope our friends are still reading, as you and I seem to be the only ones still posting...
Hey, I'm inclined to agree with you both. Put in perspective from comparison with other places in Canada, it seems that it is just 'spoilt little babies'.
ReplyDeleteI've been sorting out my student finance and my tuition fees alone is £9000 per year, which coupled with all the loans I will have will total over £38355+ which when converted to USD is $60,210+ in debt with interest, and this is only student finance money, not including any money that I have or any other loans as such. Unfortunately I cannot seem to find an actual amount to compare that to the debt that will be incurred by the students in Quebec, if anybody does know it would be interesting to compare.
Though I understand and agree with responsibility on the individual rather than the government, I feel that when it comes to student loans and debt, the government should play a more prolific role in helping. Again, as I don't know all the roles in force in Canada (and America)I can't really say much on that. But here, there is a lot of emphasis on students being the future but the help provided to get students into university hasn't been the best. However, with our raise in tuition fees and the lack of jobs for students (and the increased difficulty in getting any jobs, anywhere) the government, as well as the individual universities have put in place more schemes, scholarships, bursaries and grants to help students who are more disadvantaged when it comes to payment. I, like Emily, would be unable to go to university if it were not for my government grant.
I personally feel that the costs/loans/debts should be a more shared responsibility between the individual, the university and the government who fund either the student or the uni.
Sorry this isn't as informed as it could be, when I have some free time I'll see what else I can find out about the Quebec student fees.
Also sorry for not posting lately, I check all the time but I have not had the time to post anything due to the stress of my final exams coming up and all sorts of uni mess.
I'll try to do a catch-up this Friday.
It's definitely been hard to find good information about the reasoning for the tuition fee hikes/etc., most of the news just tends to focus on what's happening with the protests. I did happen to find out that the percentage of the tuition fee increase is 75%, which, percentage wise, is ridiculous. But again, even after the increase they still have the cheapest tuitions in all of Canada, maybe $5,000 per year. I have friends whose tuitions are $20-30 thousand per year in Toronto and Vancouver, and for myself going abroad for my studies it's also about $30,000. So it's a massive increase compared to what they're used to but the final result isn't that unreasonable in comparison to elsewhere.
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