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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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 Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:14 pm Post subject: University of Alberta wants to hike tuition by 66% next year |
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Proposed increases:
Pharmacy: 66% increase
Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering: 30~40% increase
Why is there even a Students' Union? It is quite obvious at this point that nobody listens to them and they are powerless to do anything. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 10:45 pm Post subject: Re: University of Alberta wants to hike tuition by 66% next |
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| youtuber wrote: |
Proposed increases:
Pharmacy: 66% increase
Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering: 30~40% increase
Why is there even a Students' Union? It is quite obvious at this point that nobody listens to them and they are powerless to do anything. |
If people are willing to pay those higher rates, why shouldn't the colleges charge that much? The only true "vote" students get is when they decide whether or not they're willing to pay the price, and if some group of students could simply veto tuition increases, tuition would never go up again. |
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Moldy Rutabaga
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Location: Ansan, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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It's true that people can vote with their feet. I left the U of A and went to Newfoundland. Yet to play devil's advocate (but only a little), if all Canadian universities have raised their tuition by a factor of 8x or 10x over the last two decades (my older brothers used to pay about $600 a year at NAIT and U of A), by free market terms wouldn't that be considered collusion or price fixing?
The argument that people can just go elsewhere also does not apply to some specialized disciplines which have certification that doesn't travel well. I can't just go to another province to get a BEd degree in Canada, for example, because there are problems in being certified when I return to Alberta. This may also be the case with some of the U of A's technical degrees. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
| The argument that people can just go elsewhere ... |
I never said they could just go elsewhere. I simply said they could choose not to pay. In some cases, that might involve pursuing a different career path than they originally intended on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; college educations have realistically been over-distributed compared to society's needs. This is especially true of things like business majors, which was a retarded concept from the start. Any real skills involved in being a "business major" can be acquired in on-the-job training.
When too many people have college degrees, problems occur. I think an educated population is a good thing, but when you require an expensive degree to get an average job, there's a problem. |
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BobbyOrr
Joined: 01 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 2:18 am Post subject: |
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| Bit of a salacious headline though. At least all of those programs are professional degrees that involve an in-demand job market. |
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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:01 am Post subject: |
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| Fox wrote: |
| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
| The argument that people can just go elsewhere ... |
I never said they could just go elsewhere. I simply said they could choose not to pay. In some cases, that might involve pursuing a different career path than they originally intended on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; college educations have realistically been over-distributed compared to society's needs. This is especially true of things like business majors, which was a retarded concept from the start. Any real skills involved in being a "business major" can be acquired in on-the-job training.
When too many people have college degrees, problems occur. I think an educated population is a good thing, but when you require an expensive degree to get an average job, there's a problem. |
A lot of employers specify that a certain degree is required to work for them. Whether or not that degree is useful is debatable. So in some ways, some people have no other choice but to get a degree to work for a certain employer. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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| Is there a link anywhere? I'm considering applying to U of A for a professional program in the very near future, and it was already just a backup choice- if the price is going up that much, then perhaps I won't even bother. |
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blade
Joined: 30 Jun 2007
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| Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 9:01 pm Post subject: Re: University of Alberta wants to hike tuition by 66% next |
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| Fox wrote: |
| youtuber wrote: |
Proposed increases:
Pharmacy: 66% increase
Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering: 30~40% increase
Why is there even a Students' Union? It is quite obvious at this point that nobody listens to them and they are powerless to do anything. |
If people are willing to pay those higher rates, why shouldn't the colleges charge that much?
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Well because people don't think rationally when it comes to education and universities seem more than willing to take advantage of this fact.
| Quote: |
The only true "vote" students get is when they decide whether or not they're willing to pay the price, and if some group of students could simply veto tuition increases, tuition would never go up again. |
How about the universities learn to live within their means rather gouging their students for every last penny. Also given that many students are fresh out of high school and probably don't understand what a couple of extra thousands in debt could mean for their future financial wellbeing, don't you think somebody needs to be looking out for the students? |
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ATlasIAm
Joined: 27 Oct 2008
Location: Sincheon
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| Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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| univeristy is getting crazy expensive |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 2:09 am Post subject: |
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| BTW Moldy, MUN's tuition is pretty close to the same as what I paid in the late 90s. |
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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:30 am Post subject: |
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| peppermint wrote: |
| Is there a link anywhere? I'm considering applying to U of A for a professional program in the very near future, and it was already just a backup choice- if the price is going up that much, then perhaps I won't even bother. |
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/091119/canada/canada_edmonton_edmonton_university_alberta_tuition_proposals
Another thing to consider is that if they are willing to boost these tuitions by this much, then there will probably be increases in the rest of the other faculties (arts, science) as well. |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:47 am Post subject: |
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| The program I'm looking at looks really third rate, in comparison with the other schools I'm applying to, and Edmonton winters were already a deterrent. Now I'm even more ambivalent. |
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youtuber
Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 12:58 pm Post subject: |
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| What program? Maybe I know someone who has taken it. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:34 pm Post subject: |
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| youtuber wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| Moldy Rutabaga wrote: |
| The argument that people can just go elsewhere ... |
I never said they could just go elsewhere. I simply said they could choose not to pay. In some cases, that might involve pursuing a different career path than they originally intended on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; college educations have realistically been over-distributed compared to society's needs. This is especially true of things like business majors, which was a retarded concept from the start. Any real skills involved in being a "business major" can be acquired in on-the-job training.
When too many people have college degrees, problems occur. I think an educated population is a good thing, but when you require an expensive degree to get an average job, there's a problem. |
A lot of employers specify that a certain degree is required to work for them. |
But that's true largely because of degree over-saturation, rather than anything about that degree being a true requirement for the job. If an employer can demand additional qualification, they will, and because of too many people having nonsense like "business degrees," they can.
| youtuber wrote: |
| So in some ways, some people have no other choice but to get a degree to work for a certain employer. |
That's a self-perpetuating cycle. If people stopped being willing to take on an additional 4 years of training at great expense to themselves to get a mediocre job, the requirement would vanish. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:42 pm Post subject: Re: University of Alberta wants to hike tuition by 66% next |
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| blade wrote: |
| Fox wrote: |
| youtuber wrote: |
Proposed increases:
Pharmacy: 66% increase
Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering: 30~40% increase
Why is there even a Students' Union? It is quite obvious at this point that nobody listens to them and they are powerless to do anything. |
If people are willing to pay those higher rates, why shouldn't the colleges charge that much?
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Well because people don't think rationally when it comes to education and universities seem more than willing to take advantage of this fact. |
I'd extend that into saying people don't think rationally period when it comes to economic decisions.
| blade wrote: |
| Quote: |
The only true "vote" students get is when they decide whether or not they're willing to pay the price, and if some group of students could simply veto tuition increases, tuition would never go up again. |
How about the universities learn to live within their means rather gouging their students for every last penny. |
When they stop being run like businesses and start actually being administered for the overall good of society, perhaps this is something that can be discussed.
| blade wrote: |
| Also given that many students are fresh out of high school and probably don't understand what a couple of extra thousands in debt could mean for their future financial wellbeing, don't you think somebody needs to be looking out for the students? |
Sure, but so long as universities are essentially businesses, it will never be the universities that are looking out for them. |
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