In Canada, free post-secondary tuition has been heavily debated for decades, so why hasn’t Canada ever tried it out? With Canadian students collectively owing over $28 billion in student loans, it is no wonder that students remain in debt for years. With the rise of inflation, it is getting more difficult by the year for students to get out of school debt free. Frieda Richards in a Global News interview states that “67 percent of Canadians are graduating with some form of student debt”, this debt is not only from student loans but also from paying for living expenses which adds to consumer debt from line of credit, credit cards and bank loans. With tuitions fees growing exponentially, there seems to be is no sign of BC moving towards free tuition or even lowing their interest rates. As a student myself, I will have to pay over $7,500 in interest fees alone, on top of my $15,000 loan, and I am not even done school yet. There are claims that the federal government is using interest fees on student loans as a source of revenue that is projected to earn approximately $862.6 million in revenue from the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) in 2018. In addition, public records show student loan interest rates used to be around $650 million in prior years. Unfortunately, as student debt piles up it makes it difficult for people to start their lives on a clean slate. Hence, if Canada joined countries like France and Slovenia, and adopted the free post-secondary model, it could benefit students, but also could come with some downsides. Tuition would be paid for entirely by the tax payer’s dollars. This means that if public budgets fail to keep pace with the demand of payment, then schools will have to have to limit the number of students or sacrifice the quality of teaching. Contrarily, while overcrowding seems to be an issue with free post-secondary institutions, within the G-7, the four countries that charge college tuition have higher education attainment rates. Another option is for Canada to create a better way for students to repay their loans. Take Australia for example, who started a program in 1989 that links loan payments to the student’s income. Students pay a low interest rate equal to inflation and are exempt from payments until they earn AU$55,874. They only pay a flat percentage of all their income, once their income exceeds the threshold. In the end, when it comes to deciding whether post-secondary tuition should be free, I would say no, however, paying back your student loans should not be as difficult or expensive as it is. As a student who has racked up a hefty student loan bill, sometimes I wish it was free. However, the fact that countries who have tuition fees have high attainment rates, and the fact that I have to pay for it out of my own pocket, makes me appreciate and work twice as hard.
Kourtney, great article! And honestly nice to see both sides of it! I really like the idea of finding different/better was to pay back student loans as clearly it is not feasible for a lot of us to pay ours back while also trying to make our way through life post grad! I was also looking at the way Australia deals with their students debts and I think it is a really smart way and likely a happy middle ground for us all. As much as I love the idea of free tuition I also understand it is highly unlikely. If that really is the case, then what you advise (finding new ways in which we pay back our loans) seems like the next best step! Maybe also making it more possible for students to get better loans so they aren't just barely making it by while working and doing school as a lot of us have to do, even with our loans.
ReplyDeleteGreat read! x
Very well argued. We constantly hear about how high tuition and debt can be, but actually seeing some of these crazy statistics really puts it into perspective. I really enjoyed how you tied your own experiences in at the end as well. I completely agree, it really lights a fire under you when you realize how much money out of your own pocket you've spent on your education. But I also agree it probably shouldn't be as expensive as it is currently. We want to light a fire not burn our entire house down.
ReplyDeleteWell written Kourtney. You make a strong and clear argument to support your article. I enjoy how you personalized the piece by incorporating your own student loan scenario. Furthermore, I really enjoyed learning about the system Australia uses, as another option. From the very beginning with an opening fact of students owing $28 billion in loans, I was engaged as a reader.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!