A Canadian education isn't affordable?? Oh please!!

Oh come on! The Gazette published an article called "Canadian universities rank behind U.S. in affordability." Oh please! No way! Everyone knows that is an IMPOSSIBLE and RIDICULOUS notion. Really, I didn't have to respond to this as it should be an obvious piece of propaganda meant to increase tuition for students in Canada, but I responded anyway. Here's the article followed by my letter to the editor.

Canadian universities rank behind U.S. in affordability

Susan Mohammad, CanWest News Service

Published: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

OTTAWA -- Attending a public university in the United States is generally less expensive than in Canada, according to a report released Tuesday by the Educational Policy Institute.

The international non-profit organization, which conducts policy-based research on educational opportunities for students, compared four-year programs at public universities in Canada and the U.S. using six measures to judge affordability.

The factors included educational and living costs such as books and tuition, and the impact subsidies like grants and loans have measured within the context of a median family (pre-tax) income.

New Hampshire was listed as most affordable in the report, called Beyond the 49th Parallel II: The Affordability of University Education, while Nova Scotia ranked last of the 50 states and 10 provinces largely because of lower student aid and family incomes and higher tuition costs.

Alex Usher, vice-president of the Educational Policy Institute, and research associate Kim Steele wrote the report based on the latest data available from the 2002-2003 school year, and information from a similar report by Scott Swail in 2004.

"If family income, student aid and tuition are three big factors, then New Hampshire is three for three while Nova Scotia is zero for three," said Usher.

After New Hampshire, the most affordable rankings were Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi. Quebec ranked first among Canadian provinces but only 30th overall, followed by Alberta and Ontario.

On average, the U.S. median household income measured 16 per cent higher than in Canada, and U.S. students received an average of $900 more in grants when converted to Canadian dollars. Both factors proved to be significant in the study.

Alberta doled out the most in Canada, averaging $2,200 per student, while Saskatchewan handed out about $1,700. Provinces such as New Brunswick and Nova Scotia only gave students between $900-$1,000.

"There's a big gap between them or say Delaware or Vermont, where you're talking about $5,000 Cdn per student. That's a lot of money," said Usher, adding that loans are also harder to obtain in Canada.

Although expenses for students living away from home were included, the report does not consider American students going to school out of state, as the study looked to determine the minimum set of prices facing students.

"What's the affordability barrier versus what people choose to pay?"

The findings are not to be confused with the accessibility of education in measuring affordability. For example, Usher said Nova Scotia had among the highest university participation rate in Canada despite finishing last in North America for affordability.

He also said there is evidence from other studies that Canadian youth from low-income families are more likely to attend four-year institutions when compared to their U.S. counterparts.

Usher hopes the study will be used to expand policy discussions about affordability beyond tuition concerns taking into account grant and loan policies as well.

"I think they (student groups) will raise legitimate questions about whether or not Canadian governments can have the kinds of tuition policies without the student aid policies to match. That's a legitimate discussion to have."

Scott Courtice, executive director of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, said he wasn't surprised by the results of the study, and that it would prove valuable when discussing educational issues with the government.

He said although Ontario has made significant investments in post-secondary education, he is concerned there is no real strategy behind accessibility programs.

"It's not a surprise to us that Ontario would rank low on the affordability index. The government has committed a significant amount of money in next few years but no coherent strategy."

Courtice said many Canadians believe education costs to be higher in the U.S. because they think of private universities with high tuition costs, but aren't aware that schools such as Harvard University have large enough endowments to eliminate financial barriers for many students.

© Ottawa Citizen 2006

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MY RESPONSE

Quite simply, the article "Canadian universities rank behind U.S. in affordability" by Susan Mohammed is a farce. Anyone in full possession of their faculty of reason knows that education in the US is much more expensive than an education in Canada. Even the most expensive education in Canada couldn't compare to some of the cheapest university educations in the US. The article proclaims that an education in New Hampshire was listed as the most affordable in the report. Well, let's take a look at the University of New Hampshire, ranked #97 out of 120 national colleges by USNews.com. The average yearly cost of an undergraduate education for RESIDENTS is US$16, 810 of which US$9778 is tuition. For non-residents, the average cost is US$28,530 of which US$21,498 is tuition (http://admissions.unh.edu/tuition/unhtuition.html). At Yale, my alma mater and ranked #3 by USNews.com, current yearly tuition is estimated at US$31,460 with total cost estimated to be US$43,700 (http://www.yale.edu/admit/freshmen/financial_aid/cost.html).

By contrast, the average yearly tuition for undergraduates at McGill University where I am a graduate student is CDN$1668 for Quebec residents and CDN$4651 for Canadians and CDN$11970 for International students. Add about CDN$1300 in each case for other costs and you can see that the average yearly cost of an education at one of Canada's best schools clearly is more affordable than the cost of an education at a mediocre US institution. However, why don't we look at the cost of an education in the "costly" Nova Scotia. At Dalhousie University, tuition is CDN$5820 for Canadian citizens and CDN$11460 for non-Canadians. Adding in room, board and other costs, Dalhousie costs Canadian undergraduates approximately CDN$14,952 per year and non-Canadians CDN$21,197 per year.

The point is that despite any debatable discrepancies in student funding, even if I receive nothing, I am much more able to pay for a quality Canadian education than any US education. That is what is notable about a Canadian education - it is a good education at a fair price. So, Nova Scotia only needs to give a student CDN$1000 for it to represent 1/5th of the tuition cost while New Hampshire needs to hand out US$2500 (for residents) to accomplish the same task. Furthermore, average salaries take into account the very rich and the very poor. In each country, how affordable is a quality US education for the poor? In Canada, while we need to improve accessibility for the lowest income earners, it is clear that the task is less daunting than it is in the US.

Propaganda - that's what I say - propaganda meant to discredit the more balanced and just society we have set up in Canada. Let's not let people discredit the good that we have done for education (and healthcare, another major target of propaganda) in Canada.