Tuition fees must rise Editorial
Winnipeg Free Press,
Mar 03, 2010
The Winnipeg Free Press - never a bastion of enlightenment - is calling for tuition increases. "Manitoba students have had it easy for too long for no real purpose other than political" it argues in an editorial. "Low tuition has not opened the post-secondary doors to low-income families." Maybe not - low-income families have many barriers to face that are not addressed by lower fees. But raising tuition fees surely slams the door on any lower-income students that make it that far. Raising fees entrenches higher education as a bastion of privilege for the wealthier set, and devalues academic merit as the criterion for admission. The newspaper should recommend redressing tuition 'shortfalls' with compensating public funding, and recommend means for lowering additional barriers to low-income students, such as public access to open learning resources so they can benefit, like their wealthier counterparts, from a rich information environment prior to enrolment.
We will see a lot more of this. Newspapers and other media will not hesitate to leap to the defense of the wealthier at the expense of the public. That is why it is a public policy imperative to provide alternative routes to post-secondary education. If we depend on universities, and universities remain a very expensive means of providing an education, then an education will once again become reserved for the wealthy. Such routes must not be means-based - why is why I discourage public-private partnerships. They must allow the person willing to devote the time and effort access to educational resources, counselling and support, peer interaction and mentorship, and evaluation and assessement.
We will see a lot more of this. Newspapers and other media will not hesitate to leap to the defense of the wealthier at the expense of the public. That is why it is a public policy imperative to provide alternative routes to post-secondary education. If we depend on universities, and universities remain a very expensive means of providing an education, then an education will once again become reserved for the wealthy. Such routes must not be means-based - why is why I discourage public-private partnerships. They must allow the person willing to devote the time and effort access to educational resources, counselling and support, peer interaction and mentorship, and evaluation and assessement.
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