Category: Tuition

Ontario Universities’ Looming Abyss

I am going to make two controversial claims.  The first is that the Ford government probably gets too much stick for its performance on higher education in its first term, and the second is that Ford’s second term looks set to be a LOT worse than the first.  Ready?  Here we go. The current Ford government in Ontario is often accused of “slashing funding” to universities.  However, as far as direct funding to institutions is concerned, the Ford government is

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Saskatchewan in a Nutshell

We have almost come to the end of the nutshell series.  In this, the final installment, we will look at Saskatchewan, which when you think of it is kind of to the other provinces what Canada is to the rest of the world.  The quintessence of Canada, if you will. Taking Saskatchewan last is partly a function of data problems in the province.  As in several other provinces, college numbers are subject to a sudden surge in the late aughts,

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Prince Edward Island in a Nutshell

Faithful readers will probably recall the “nutshell” series we produced last year (see here if you want to refresh your memory), in which we profiled 8 provinces’ post-secondary education systems before running out of time towards the end of the year, thereby disappointing some readers in Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan.  However, fear not!  We’re going to finish up this month, starting out east with the Island. To begin with student numbers: Prince Edward Island is the only province in

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Quebec in a Nutshell

All right, we’ve done seven of these and it’s time to look at Canada’s outlier province.  You know, the one where every time you try to explain Canada to someone in another country and you have to say “of course, it’s usually different in Quebec.” Let’s start with student numbers.  Quebec is, relatively speaking, the least university-based system in the country.  Just under 45% of all postsecondary students in the province are enrolled in CEGEPs, and as recently as 2001-02 university

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Newfoundland and Labrador in a Nutshell

Morning folks.  Today we’re going to look at the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. As I demonstrated here, it is a lot like Alberta in its hydro-carbon related boom-and-bust funding cycles, but quite unlike it in its demographics and student numbers. Let’s start with student numbers.  Newfoundland and Labrador faced adverse demographics for post-secondary education for decades now, so simply keeping numbers steady is a bit of a triumph.  When the government reduced and then froze tuition in 2000, the province’s

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