quebec tuition and access to pro degrees

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/04/02/f-post-secondary-tuition-accessibility.html

(D - here is the passage I object to.)

"Student financial aid isn't perfect but by and large ensures accessibility for those who would otherwise face financial barriers," Finnie says.

Several other institutions, including the University of Saskatchewan, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) have come to similar conclusions about enrolment, based on available data.

Enrolment rise after hike
The MEI goes further. A 2004 paper by economist Norma Kozhaya states that university enrolment continued to rise in Quebec even after a brief hike in tuition rates in 1991-92.

In fact, rising tuition costs haven’t deterred students from enrolling in universities across the country.

Undergraduate enrolment overall surpassed the million-student mark in September 2011, according to the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, a three per cent increase from 2010. There was also a 3.2 per cent increase in full-time graduate student attendance.

TUITION FEES Comparing post-secondary costs across Canada
Ontario and Saskatchewan, which both have high university tuitions, at $6,640 and $5,601 respectively, still see a record number of students. Saskatchewan’s enrolment in 2010 was up two per cent. Ontario’s enrolment increased 2.7 per cent in 2009

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D - the devil is in the details. Other provinces other than Quebec typically have much higher tuition fees. In particular, Ontario does. SO let's look at the impact of high tuition rates in Ontario on what degree students choose to pursue.

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http://ocufa.on.ca/wordpress/assets/tuition_trap.pdf

(D - by OCUFA, 2005, regarding Ontario.)

Although tuition in general has continued to be subject to government regulation – albeit
at higher regulated levels – Ontario does have some direct experience with the impact of
full deregulation in professional programs. Analysis based on surveys of physicians and
medical students across Canada in 1997, 2000 and 2004 reveals a decline in the
participation by students from lower-income families and adds some provocative data on
changes in accumulated debt and career choices over time as tuition has increased...

From 1990 to 2002, the share of tuition in university operating revenues more than
doubled, from 21 per cent to 43 per cent. The share of college operating revenues
accounted for by tuition jumped from 17 per cent to 31 per cent.
While tuition has been increasing in every province in Canada, its shift in Ontario puts
the province substantially out of step with the rest of Canada...

The high-tuition strategy

In Ontario specifically, enrolment increased
over the past 10 years because the postsecondary system absorbed the so-called double
cohort of first-year entrants arising from the elimination of Grade 13...

...a June 2004
study for the Millennium Scholarship Foundation cites widespread evidence from both
the United States and Canada that increasing costs have had an impact on participation by
students from low-income backgrounds...

• There is evidence that students reduce their class loads in order to earn needed
funding through part-time employment, thus increasing the time required to
graduate.
• There is evidence that a number of students interrupt their studies or drop out of
college or university due to a lack of finances.
• There is evidence that rural and low-income students may be opting for shorter
programs in the college and technical sectors, in part because of lower cost.

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D - High tuitions prevent poor students from gaining comparable access to higher education . This is confirmed in other studies also.

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http://www.ousa.ca/2011/09/06/stop-drop-and-freeze-tuition-fees-in-ontario-by-alicia-ali-september-6-2011/

According to the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, 40% of college students who exit their program prior to completion do so because of insufficient funds. Underrepresented groups, particularly low-income, Aboriginal, rural and northern students are those affected the most by high fees. These students are most likely to go into debt to finance their post-secondary studies, yet far more likely to be price sensitive and debt averse. Almost 40% of individuals who never attended higher education listed finances as a barrier to participation. Several studies have concluded that tuition increases have a moderate impact on post-secondary participation in low-income students. The argument that increases in financial assistance has offset rising tuition is undermined by the fact that need-based aid has not kept pace with tuition.

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D - StatsCan suggests that the middle class in Ontario was the biggest loser in a mismatch between high tuition rates for professional programs, and access to needs-based student aid.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/050927/dq050927a-eng.htm

1995 to 2002
Tuition fees for professional programs in Ontario's universities soared during the late 1990s, nearly quadrupling in the case of medicine and almost tripling for law.

A new study has found that these big jumps were associated with substantial changes in the likelihood that students from different socio-economic backgrounds would enrol in medicine, law or dentistry programs...

However, the only group that experienced declines in enrolment included Ontario students from middle educated parents, whose parents had post-secondary qualifications below a graduate degree...

Other provinces saw moderate increases in tuition fees and moderate changes in enrolment patterns in professional programs across the socio-economic spectrum.

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D - in conclusion, merely pointing to increasing levels of attendance at university despite higher tuition fees ignores the 'devil in the details'. High tuition fees, particularly without matching generous student aid to offset it, acts as a deterrence to obtaining the same outcome for non-rich as rich students.

D - it used to be that the sons of lawyers and doctors would becomes the same. Now it's sons and daughters - but the classist aspect has not changed. Deregulating tuitions are motivated by a desire for a government to reduce expenditures. This very fact makes it highly unlikely that such a government will increase access to student aid to offset this, since then that government can't screw students out of funding as much.