Written by Kimia Asgari
Ontario students pay the highest tuition rates for post-secondary education in all of Canada. Over the past 40 years, parental contributions for post-secondary education have dropped, causing students to have to rely more heavily on student loans and part-time jobs to fund their education. With the increasing cost of post-secondary education, more and more pressure is placed on low-income students to decide whether or not they should pursue higher education. Many are forced to quit their dreams of gaining more knowledge and experience simply because they are unable to afford it.
Current research is divisive when it comes to the effects of lower incomes on post-secondary education participation. Some people believe that there is no correlation between student income and their likelihood to attend university or college, while others believe that the cost of attendance and the expected payoff of higher education turns many potential students away. Studies have found decreased rates of post-secondary attendance by low-income students since the spike in university tuition fees that occurred in the late 1990s as a result of reduced government funding.
Recent studies have found that higher tuition fees have little negative impact on the rate of low-income students; rather, there seems to be an increased rate of post-secondary attendance among 18-24 year-old students, especially those from low-income households. Higher average incomes accompanied by better employment rights and conditions are thought to be some of the underlying factors for this increase. Moreover, such a trend is possible because the availability of student loans, scholarships, and grants have been able to keep up with the continuous increases in tuition fees.
Even though students coming from a low economic background are still less likely to attend university or college, student financial aid programs have played an important role in helping students expand their knowledge through higher education opportunities. The government of Ontario has taken steps towards lowering tuition fees across all Ontario universities. Tuition rates were lowered by 10% for the 2019-20 school year, and these rates are frozen for the 2020-21 school year. University scholarships, private fundings and scholarships, and the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) have enabled many students to pay the costs of gaining knowledge.
Every person has the right to be able to pursue higher learning if they desire, and money should not be a major obstacle that keeps curious minds away from such a right. Part-time jobs, financial aid programs, and in some cases, parental support ensure that students are given the opportunity to practice their right of pursuing a higher education.
Works Cited
Mueller, Richard E. (2008). Access and Persistence of Students from Low‐Income Backgrounds in Canadian Post‐Secondary Education: A Review of the Literature. A MESA Project Research Paper. Toronto, ON: Educational Policy Institute.
Ontario Government (2019). Affordability of Postsecondary Education in Ontario. Ontario Newsroom. Retrieved from: https://news.ontario.ca/en/backgrounder/50952/affordability-of-postsecondary-education-in-ontario
Schlesinger, Joel. (2019). The high price of higher learning. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/featured-reports/article-the-high-price-of-higher-learning/
Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. (2015). Free Post-Secondary Education: The case for eliminating tuition fees. Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario. Retrieved from:
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