The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

The World of Higher Education Podcast Listen now →

Category: Students

Advice for Young Student Politicians

At most Canadian universities, student election season is about to start.  So, today, a quick note for anyone out there thinking about joining the ranks of student representatives.  First, if you’re in Ontario, you need to know there’s no guarantee at all about what kind of organization you might be heading.  No one knows how the fee opt-out (opt-in?) system will work and what effects it will have on union finances.  Few student unions have reserves for more than a couple of

Read More »
January 31, 2019 1 Comment

The Future of Student Organizations

OK, so on Tuesday I outlined what we know and don’t know about the Ford government’s new policy of rendering non-tuition fees non-mandatory and suggested that while some of it was confused and confusing, the effect was going to be quite detrimental to independent student groups.  Even if we lend this move some lofty motives and say it is about a positive right not to be forced to associate, or the need to make student groups more responsive to their members (as

Read More »
January 24, 2019 2 Comments

Antipodean Student Organization Struggles

With the Ford government being the first to take aim at compulsory student unionism in Canada (he will not be the last; in Alberta, Jason Kenney’s UCP has a similar policy resolution on its books), it is worth taking a more detailed look at how the move to make fees optional has played out elsewhere.  Specifically, Down Under, where these policy ideas were first put into practice in the under the name “Voluntary Student Unionism” (VSU, in Australia) and “Voluntary

Read More »
January 23, 2019 No Comments

Millennial Complaints (Part 1)

Unless you’ve been under a rock the last decade or so, you will be familiar with the line of argument that millennials are a uniquely put-upon (or, in the vernacular, “screwed”) generation.  They are over-educated, over-indebted, condemned to never get on the success ladder, etc…you know the story. The question is: how true is it? The answer is: it depends in large part on which millennials we are talking about and to whom you want to compare them. Let’s start

Read More »
January 17, 2019 1 Comment

College Finance Data, 2016-17

A few months ago, I promised you all an update on college finances when Statscan finally got around to updating its FINCOL tables.  Well, that day is here. Unlike universities, which have seen their budgets grow in real terms by about 25% over the last decade, growth in college budgets has been a lot slower – only about 14% – and nearly all that growth has come from student fees, since government support has been essentially flat.  In total, college

Read More »
January 14, 2019 No Comments
Load More

One Thought to Start Your Day

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.

Subscribe

Search Posts

Search Publications

Social Media

Linkedin Youtube Spotify

Recent Posts

More thoughts on...