Free University Education
Dave Annand,
May 23, 2003
The link isn't up yet (as I look Friday morning) but it will be shortly to CRLFthis disussion of the Canadian industry minister's assertion that CRLFhigher education should be free. While critics dismiss the proposal CRLFas unaffordable, Dave Annand writes, in this opinion piece for CBC, CRLFthat the provision of tax credits for distance learning would effectively CRLFachieve this objective without costing any more than we currently CRLFspend. "The net result of providing free university education, at a CRLFdistance, is that costs would be held down, students would be CRLFencouraged to learn online, and universities would have a powerful CRLFincentive to accommodate them." I agree with this assessment, but I CRLFdon't agree with the use of tax credits. Tax credits never did a thing CRLFfor me as a student because, in order to make use of a tax credit, CRLFyou have to have a taxable income. Tax credits reward only those CRLFwho already have money coming in: to be fair, we need a system CRLFthat allows everyone, regardless of income, to access higher CRLFeducation. But that said, yes, distance learning is the way to go, and CRLFshould governments ever realize how much they could save, the CRLFtraditional university would find itself very quickly in crisis mode. This CRLFday is a lot sooner than most people think...
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