Negative Effects of Rising Tuition Costs in Canadian Universities
Education is a powerful tool in the life of any individual especially in a rapid developing global society. It is capable of determining a person’s future. It enables individuals to achieve desired goals, aspirations or dreams. Other advantages include respect, effective and efficient time management and employment among others. For example, an educated person is more likely to get employment in any geopolitical region compared to the uneducated. As such, many countries have made education a right that every child is required to have irrespective of color, race, physical/mental abilities or religion. However, implementation of such a mandatory policy has been hindered by many factors chief of which is financial capability of parents or guardians. In higher learning institutions such as universities and colleges, an increase in tuition fees has had negative effects in admission and graduation rates. This paper will discuss how an increase in tuition fees has negatively affected learning in Canadian universities. It will also highlight the relationship between ideological perspectives such as individualism and collectivism the negative effects of rising university tuition fees.
Individualism is concerned with the ability of individuals to pursue their own values, effort and judgment as they deem fit. In relation to education, individualism enables a person to pursue careers of choice and decide on the direction to take. On the other hand, collectivism is based on the belief that values and efforts belong to the society or group. Therefore, there should be a combined effort in ensuring that everyone in the society is able to access education equally. There are various negative effects that come with the rising cost of tuition fees in Canadian universities. They include academic effects, economic health, decreased enrollment, dropping out and slower graduation rates among others. These negative effects can viewed within the prism of individualism and collectivism ideologies.
Firstly, rising costs of tuition can interfere with the academic progress of a student. This is mainly because it will require the student to work for longer hours in order to cover for such costs. As such, a student’s progress would be interfered with considering the fact that there would be no full time dedication for studies. According to Fleming (2014) international students studying in the Canadian universities are considered as the most affected since they will be required to pay more than half what domestic students pay. This is mainly because the framework for Ontario tuition does not cover international students. This means that under the collectivism ideological perspective, international students as a whole would greatly suffer making some of them to limit class sessions. In relation to individualism, each student would be personally affected if they are unable to get better grades required for their academic success.
Secondly, economic health would be at hand with increase in tuition fees more so for the students that are given loans by the Canadian universities. This is because students will be compromised or compelled to leave important decisions like initiating business, engaging in house purchase and families among others in order to pay off loans. Furthermore, statistics indicate that undergraduates are the most disadvantaged since they have received low funding rates for more than twenty years (Fleming, 2014). As such, this relates to individualism ideological perspective since the funding affect each and every student that has not graduated. On the other hand, collectivism perspective is due to the fact that the community as a whole is affected when students are unable to establish businesses since they are required to offset loans.
Thirdly, increasing tuition fees for students leads to decreased enrollment. Despite the fact that many students have the urge to study, increases in tuition fees becomes a de-motivating factor. This is because some students more so from low income households would be incapable of paying such rates making them to give up on studies. Furthermore, other issues like drop outs would be a consequence. For example, increasing tuition fees while students are in their last year of study might make them to drop out due to lack of funds for studies. A resultant of this consequence would be slow graduation rates since deferring due to lack of fees would see graduation dates pushed forward. This would eventually have negative effects both in collectivism and individualism perspectives. In relation to individualism, students may be limited to access good jobs of choice that they may have wished for. This is mainly because of the inability to cater for tuition fees due to the rising costs. Moreover, an individualistic view of education would limit the financial help these students might get from relatives, friends and even the government. Conversely, collectivism ideology when used within the education system will help in perceiving individual’s education success as a communal or national achievement. Therefore, the community and the government will be more willing to assist with tuition fees including reducing it.
Considering the advantages associated with education like determination of an individual’s future life and employment, tuition fees should not be increased. Furthermore, negative effects such as decreased enrollment, academic effects and economic health should be put into consideration by learning institutions and say no to increase in tuition fees.
Reference
Fleming, C. (2014). Tuition fees continue to rise. Retrieved from http://thevarsity.ca/2014/08/31/tuition-fees-continue-to-rise/.