Eighty-seven per cent of people in Vernon agree the province needs to take immediate action to reduce the cost of post-secondary education (PSE) and 80 per cent say the province needs to invest more in PSE, according to a new poll by Strategic Research.
Measures to lower the cost of post-secondary could include cancelling interest on student loans, expanding grants to students from middle- and lower-income families, and lowering tuition.
The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC, which sponsored the poll, calculates tuition revenues are a billion dollars more today than in 2002. This represents an increase of 350 per cent, while the BC government has cut funding by 20 per cent in the same period.
“Higher tuition translates into students taking on unprecedented levels of debt, and that makes it harder for many people in Vernon to access the programs they need to succeed, and it also places an overwhelming financial burden on our students once they graduate,” said Dr. Tim Walters, President of the Okanagan College Faculty Association. “The BC government is failing students and their families because doors are being shut to post-secondary education when we need to be opening them. It’s bad public policy.”
“At Okanagan College, tuition is going up again in the fall by the maximum permitted by the tuition cap—two percent for domestic students, and five per cent for internationals,” said Walters.
Increases in tuition are happening at a time when university, college and trades training is becoming more critical for today’s job market. The province’s 2024 Labour Market Outlook states that nearly eight in 10 job openings in B.C. are expected to require post-secondary education by 2024.
“Communities are supported by the programming at universities and colleges like Okanagan College. It’s time for the province to support students by investing in post-secondary,” said Walters. “It’s time for the BC government to stop relying on the willingness of students and their families to go into debt for decades in order to fund the post-secondary education system in this province; it’s an unsustainable model, it’s unfair, and it’s failing our students and communities.”