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ONTARIO PC’S NEW FORMULA FOR POST SECONDARY FUNDING
The Ontario Government has recently mandated that tuition fees will be reduced for College and University students by an amazing 10%. The cuts will take effect next September and tuition fees will be frozen for two years.
"If it seems like it is too good to be true then it probably is." Free tuition for low- income Ontario students will be scrapped by the Ford Gov’t. The estimated 50,000 Ontario post secondary students who come from lower/ middle income families will be hurt the most.
The Ontario government is not paying for the cost of the tuition reductions; The colleges and universities will lose millions in lost revenues. I suspect that there will be cuts in the number of faculty, libraries, counselling services, programming and the quality of a college/university education.
The mega size classes at Western with over 1000 students in attendance at Alumni Hall may have to become the norm.
There will be changes to the OSAP (Ontario Student Aid Program) with the former grants now converted to student loans payable with interest six months after graduating or leaving school.
Middle class/poor students will see next to no benefits while the wealthy offspring who never qualified for OSAP in the first place are given a 10% cut in tuition. The rich gets richer with a post secondary education. Many of the most affluent are PHD students, "Pappa has dough". The poor students who need the education the most can not grasp the gold ring to success because they can’t afford to attend school.
Like the buck a beer Ford hustle it is mostly smoke and mirrors with the breweries not able to deliver on the Premier’s frothy promises. The universities and the poor students will have to pay for the cost of the Ford Govt’s plans to save money, Short sighted planning for little gain resulting in long term pain for many of our students.
If your children do not have the first year tuition fees it may be a good idea for them to take a Gap year to work/ save their money to help pay for their schooling.
Len Lesser