Category: Canada

The Return of Income-Contingency

The idea of income-contingent repayment (ICR) of student loans has been with us for a few decades now.  In 1945, Milton Friedman advocated something like an ICR loan as a way of reducing the risk associated with educational investment.  In 1971, nobel-prize winner, James Tobin, developed an ICR for use at Yale University.  The first national-level ICR was in Australia, which introduced its Higher Education Contribution Scheme in 1988; the idea quickly spread to New Zealand, the UK, and Sweden.

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Is This the Worst Student Movement Ever?

I’m trying to imagine a worse excuse for a student movement than the one Quebec has at the moment; and I have to say that I’m not sure I can. I mean, sure, the Canadian Federation of Students has talked some awful crap about how reducing net tuition for poor students is unacceptable, unless richer kids get a break too – really ludicrous stuff, which objectively favours richer students over poorer ones.  But so far as I know, they’ve never

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The Justin Trudeau Effect

As you know, we at HESA have a national panel of students with whom we frequently commune to check the pulse of the student body.   Usually, we use this to look at students’ educational experiences.  Occasionally, though, we also use it to look at broader social and political issues.  And today, we’d like to show you what Canadian students really think of Justin Trudeau. Why Trudeau? Well, part of the man’s narrative is that he connects with the young.  His

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Comparing Delivery Costs

HEQCO is consistently putting out interesting reports these days, and it’s a shame they aren’t attracting more attention.  The latest one is called, College-to-University Transfer Arrangements and Undergraduate Education: Ontario in a National and International Context, by David Trick.  It’s a really nice paper which gives a multi-jurisdictional overview of transfer policies and practices, and provides a balanced assessment about both the benefits and the limits of 2+2 policies.  Its final conclusions concerning different possible policy positions for increasing transfer are

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A Revolution in Faculty Bargaining?

Earlier this week, I was riffing on how to make good salary comparisons when I came across a faculty union which has been doing just that. The faculty union at the University of Victoria is feeling a bit aggrieved that its members’ pay is lower than at comparable universities.  When I first saw their numbers, I was a bit skeptical: UVic went through a significant generational shift nine or ten years ago, so their age/rank profile might potentially account for some of

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