Way off

By James Keller

Editor, the Gauntlet,

Re: “Tuition–it’s time for a new strategy,” Nov. 11, 2004,

The main issue here isn’t just the cost of tuition, but the funding the province gives the university.

Even with maximum increases, the university can’t keep up with rising costs.

It is, indeed, time for a new strategy. But telling students to suck it up and live with the status quo is way off.

There is a reason tuition is rising while quality at U of C is dropping: current provincial funding levels.

Any “new strategy” must still recognize this and aim to affect change. More than anything else, the university needs the money to operate, and the province is the only place to get it. Tuition is such a small part of the equation it’s almost an afterthought.

An optimist would suggest that the problem could have been solved on November 22. But if an optimist were to say that, and actually believe it to be a realistic possibility, others might think that optimist was on opiates.