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Category: Politics

Canada’s New and Wasteful Student Loan Interest Policy

In the Fall Economic Statement last Thursday, Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced that the government will eliminate student loan interest not just on loans going forward, but also retroactively. This was not out of the blue – the government promised this in the last election.  It remains, however, a disastrous idea.  Hundreds of millions of dollars a year for no real net benefit (at least in the field of education).  I have already laid out why this is a

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November 7, 2022 No Comments

Another Australian Fee Revolution?

To Australia, where big things may be afoot.  One thing about Australian higher education politics is that they tend not to do small reforms, regardless of which party is in power.  Where undergraduate fees are concerned, it looks like there might be another big shift, so let’s look at the current state of play. Here’s the first thing you need to understand about undergraduate fees in Australia: they don’t work like fees anywhere else in the sense they are not

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November 3, 2022 No Comments

Quebec Election Manifestos 2022

Quebec goes to the polls next Monday, and while I do election manifesto analysis for all provinces, the one for Quebec is a bit extra special, both because of the sheer number of parties and because Quebec’s one of the few places in the country where we have seen consistent increases in investment, even if the current government does have some funny ideas about things like “academic freedom”.  In reverse order of current polling results: Parti québécois.  Remember when they

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September 29, 2022 No Comments

The Age of Volatility

Morning all.  Yes, the summer is over and classes are returning, but fortunately your daily intake of higher education commentary/snark/contrarianism is back as well.  I missed you guys, too. Anyways, welcome to the 2022-23 academic year.  This was supposed to be the year we got back to “normal”.  And the occasional campus mask mandate aside (which I fully approve), on the surface maybe this year will feel a bit 2019-ish.  But if you look underneath the hood, things are not

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August 29, 2022 2 Comments

The “Higher Education” Premiers of the 21st Century.

Quick, fun exercise: who are the top “Higher Education Premiers” of the 21st Century?  Let’s define this as simply the Premiers who made the largest investments in the sector (my criteria here is biggest increase over any four-year period – otherwise premiers with long tenures tend to get penalized).  Go ahead, write down your top four right now before I walk you through the data.  Anyone who guesses number 1 gets a gold star because I sure as hell didn’t guess

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June 6, 2022 1 Comment

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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