I just want to post a quick link to a U of Manitoba blog on a conversation about whether or not people are willing to pay higher tuition fees for a better education...
This is a matter I feel fairly strongly about, and I would like it if people would take the time to read and form your own opinions, and please post them here so I can see what my friends think.
The conversation references several times the relation to the US education system. The Canadian understanding seems to be that they pay ridiculously high tuition, like 20grand a year and that the education is fairly comprable. When I talked to some friend in the US that were attending ivy league and comprable schools, they explained they they recieve a 1 for 1 tax break, usually useable by their paying parents. As in, when her brothers tuition was 40k a year at MIT, her parents didnt have to pay taxes on the top 40 grand, with both of them going to school, thats 80grand of their parents income that was tax free while they were in school. Unfortunately, this system works very much like the US government in general, that the rich people benefit much more than the poor.
Also keep in mind that their schools get much more corporate funding via sports teams and because the tuition is higher, they have more fluid cash to put into keeping things up to date.
At say U of M, i think the finances are a constant struggle.
Fundamentally, I still think that the difference between say 3 and 5 grand is negligible. I DO REALISE THAT I RECENTLY POSTED ABOUT MY FINANCIAL SITUATION AND I MUST LOOK LIKE A HYPOCRITE but I value a quality of education. I would value a school that would allow me to attain more than 4.5 hours a WEEK during school hours of practice time when i am expected to put in well over 20! I would value a school that had enough offices for profs. Unfortunately, I will not see this in my undergrad education. So I am torn, I WOULD pay more for a better education, but U of M has shown that Im not going to get it, so Im greedy, I don't want to pay more so other people can get a better education.
Please comment, I want to hear everyone's ideas.
1 comment:
Okay, i'm really glad you came across this, because it is a really important discussion.
There are so many problems at the u of m, where do i start..?
K, music. Soooo unfortunate is our space situation, because i believe we have an awesome faculty, what with the specially designed courses and the profs with their own text book - heck i think that we've totally blown brandon out of the water. But i would never tell someone to choose to come here. Our space and facilities is something horrid. There is no good reason why a faculty should outgrow it's building to the point of having to use up space in four other buildings - it isn't fair to those faculties and it isn't fair to music. The new building should already be in process by now, and they never should have started a bug jazz program if there was no room for it. They also get really excited for masters students, but that program can't grow in a healthy way unless there is space for all those ppl. The only way to get around this problem is to let in less students. That is super unfortunate, because i know that if that did happen i prolly wouldn't have gotten in, but it is for the better good.
Now, how about residence? Tache Hall is seriously seriously outdated, last year my ceiling was falling down in pieces (honesty, there were huge chunks of paint and concrete falling down). But, here is a better question: why did my res fees go up so much in Mauro compared to last year, when in fact the building is depreciating??? I understand that the other res's went up because they have free dsl (which is something every other campus had already done) so yeah. But mauro was already a 'free internet' place, so why did my res fees go up? What am i getting out of it, and is it going somewhere that had nothing to do with me???
I know that every building is in dire need of repair and upgrad (except the new engineering building - that place rocks!) but how is it determined what gets done first? How long do people need to get angry and be loud about it? And what about the annex - whose idea was it to get it closed, when we would have been better off if we could still use it? Tache had a ton of asbestos in it, but that never made them close it down!
In conclusion, i wouldn't mind paying more for my education, if i got what i deserved out of it. Right now, my res fees are rediculous for what i get, but my tuition is fine because i think my profs are awesome (although the facilites are terrible).
If i payed an extra thousand dollars next year, but had a brand new building, i would be overjoyed. What do you think?
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