Letter to the editor...Higher tuition for higher education
This week we learned that average undergraduate student fees exceeded the $5,000 mark.
This year they rose another $184 — more than double the value of the Conservatives' measly textbook tax credit.
All the government could say in its Throne Speech is that it realizes that everyday families are concerned about the soaring costs of higher education. Yet there is no plan to address soaring student fees that widen the gap between rich kids and everyone else.
It is patently unfair that low and middle-income families are forced to pay significantly more for higher education, through student loan interest, than those who can afford to pay upfront.
While universities facing budget crunches reach into students' pockets for the answers, they should be looking to Ottawa.
Even with next year's anticipated increase, core federal funding for post-secondary education, in proportion to the economy, is less than one-half what it was before the Liberal cuts of the 1990s. A fraction of the government's $14 billion surplus could restore and protect the affordability and quality of Canada's public universities and colleges.
Ottawa's debt to its students is long overdue.
Irene Mathyssen, MP
(London-Fanshawe)
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
This year they rose another $184 — more than double the value of the Conservatives' measly textbook tax credit.
All the government could say in its Throne Speech is that it realizes that everyday families are concerned about the soaring costs of higher education. Yet there is no plan to address soaring student fees that widen the gap between rich kids and everyone else.
It is patently unfair that low and middle-income families are forced to pay significantly more for higher education, through student loan interest, than those who can afford to pay upfront.
While universities facing budget crunches reach into students' pockets for the answers, they should be looking to Ottawa.
Even with next year's anticipated increase, core federal funding for post-secondary education, in proportion to the economy, is less than one-half what it was before the Liberal cuts of the 1990s. A fraction of the government's $14 billion surplus could restore and protect the affordability and quality of Canada's public universities and colleges.
Ottawa's debt to its students is long overdue.
Irene Mathyssen, MP
(London-Fanshawe)
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
