Differential Tuition

By Barb Wright

With the Board of Governors meeting quickly approaching, and with differential tuition on the table, student support for the SU will be an important asset in their campaign and their lobbying.

While the committee is split on the actual merits of differential tuition–in many ways, it makes sense on a conceptual level–the current model proposed by the university is not the right one.

While the idea of linking cost of education to tuition may be a fair one, this plan clearly does not achieve that. If medicine is tripling in costs, then, using the same logic, the cost of programs not affected should go down. However, they are not. In fact, they are rising. This plan looks suspiciously more like a cash grab than a move toward equity.

Further to that, this change will give the government more leverage to cut funding. With a system in place that allows the university to charge $14,000 for a year of education, the province is free to decrease funding further. After all, the U of C can just differentiate even more.