Freeze or thaw: students’ views differ on tuition

Thierry Harris sampled student opinion on the tuition freeze.

Khaleed Juma, CSU president
Every dollar students put directly into their education in the form of tuition fees is a dollar lost from government funding.

Many people come to Quebec specifically for education, [which] brings more to this province than most people imagine. I am the future of this country. It's time for the country to make education a priority.

Aleem Mohummed, president of CASA (business)

We support an increase, but only to the rate of inflation, which is about 3 to 4 per cent, not to $5,000, which nobody would be able to pay.

Quebec tuition is cheaper than that of any other province in Canada. The government provides aid for financially strapped students. Banks still give loans to students, and the interest on those loans is tax-deductible.

Education is a right but it is also a privilege. With increased funding [through tuition], students would benefit from better facilities and a better education.

Ayaz Kassam, president of the ECA (engineering and computer science)

It all depends. Our faculty is quite divided on what the government will do. If they lift the freeze and keep the funding the same or even increase it, we could hire faculty members, get better labs and better space. The better education you have the better workforce you are going to have, [and] the more prosperity the region or the country could have.

Graduate studies can receive funds directly from the federal government or through research grants, [but] at the undergraduate level we still have very cramped classes, so we need more money. Personally, I think that 9 per cent of funding [provided by tuition] is low and I think it should go up, but I would hate to see [it rise past 15 per cent]

Hugues Mousseau , second-year MBA student

Students have to realize that postsecondary education is an investment in their future and society’s future. Many students can pay higher tuition. Lifting the freeze will enable governments to offer higher bursaries and loans to students in need.

Abdi Kadir Mohamed, political science, minor in sociology

Quebecers pay a lot of taxes. If you raise [tuition] you will have a whole generation in debt. You could work 20, 30 years just to pay it. The standard of living would go down; you could have depression, suicides.

Instead of having students pay more, they should tax liquor companies, companies that have high emissions of toxic chemicals into the environment.

Simon Halpin, third-year communications and journalism

I would not have come back to university unless it was in Quebec, because schools are so cheap. I even postponed it for one year because I could qualify as a Quebec resident and not have to pay out-of-province fees.

I think Lucien Bouchard said something good last year. He talked about taking away the tuition freeze and restructuring the student loan repayment program depending of the type of degree you got and the type of job you got after graduating. If they could scale it like that, then it’s not a lot to ask students to assume that kind of debt.

We are lucky to be paying as little as we are. I have friends in Ontario that leave school with $100,000 of debt. I was really surprised with the amount of bursaries I got. I'm getting lots of money in bursaries because I don't make that much money.

Noah Stewart Ornstein, ASFA (arts & science)

We have seen in other provinces that when tuition is raised, funding is cut. I think the government should provide 100 per cent of the funding. A university education benefits not only the individual but also society.

The Canadian Charter recognizes our right to an education [but] 70 per cent of students don't go to university for financial reasons. I think the best students should be able to go, not [just] the ones who can afford it. The system should encourage excellence.

Mina Etezadi, VP Internal of ASFA

If tuition fees [rise], the government will invest less in education. Lifting tuition [puts the burden] on students, who are already impoverished. We don’t need this extra financial pressure.