VANCOUVER,
BC
25
APRIL 2015
In 2011, the federal
government earned $244.4 million in interest on student loans. This is net
after the generous cost of borrowing from $466.4 million gross. So, exorbitant
tuition fees is big business for this government (as it was for the Liberals)
having consistently withheld funds from universities since its inception in
2006. Holding young people up with fiscal conditions, that is they can get an
education at a very high rate plus the government levy in the form of interest,
is not a set of values I would have voted for, nor would young people. So, they
don’t vote. The Harper government doesn’t need to wonder why.*
Average annual tuition paid in 2011
was $14,500 or an average of $58,000 for an undergraduate degree plus texts,
transport, accommodation. While they work to pay for this they can only hope to
cover a small portion of the cost as most work in low-paying jobs which would
only net a few thousand dollars a year (and they pay taxes on that, too).
Based on the HRSDC student loan
calculator,[11]
and assuming an average prime interest rate of 4.5%, (as of December
2011, the rate is 5.5%) a standard 10-year (114 month) repayment period, and a
loan of $30,000:
-
if the Floating
Interest option is selected, monthly payments will be $361.02 (principal
and interest), resulting in total payments of $41,156.77 ($30,000 principal +
$11,156.77 interest) over the life of the repayment.
-
-
if the Fixed
Interest option is selected, monthly payments will be $400.50 (principal
and interest), resulting in payments of $45,657.54 ($30,000 principal +
$16,657.54 interest).*
Many young people are living
on the edge of poverty to get an education such that there are now Food Banks
on many campuses. Bunking in is practically a tradition for out-of-towners but now
they are doing it in larger numbers every year and putting up with the well-and-truly-hated
slob to make it through another year.
Some female students have
resorted to the “Sugar Baby” arrangement enlisting a “Sugar Daddy” to pay for
their tuition. In the larger universities, UBC, McGill, UofT, the numbers have
skyrocketed.
Canada, before the onslaught
of neoliberalism, endeavoured to provide education for everyone who wanted it
and we paid for 80 per cent of their tuition; we were an equal opportunity
culture.
That’s what we wanted and what we voted for. We are now paying around 40 per cent, the increase,
it turns out, is about five times the rate of inflation. Other than housing,
which is 30 per cent inflated in some Canadian cities, nothing else has risen
to the level of tuition.
All polls indicate that the
large majority of Canadians want all worthy young people to have easy access to
higher education and are prepared to pay for it, indeed they are somewhat
ashamed at the downward spiral forced on students by the Harper government.
*Canadian
Federation of Students: www.cfs-fcee.ca
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