Tuition Deposits and Student-Blaming for College Tuition Debt

Tuitions deposits are (rates which student pay for their education) rising tremendously, which are not allowing children from poor background to study. last time, when I talked with small boy “Rahul” picking valuable things from garbage to live with basic amenities of life and he said that he love to study but showed his hopelessness and said my father is labourer due to which cannot afford high cost of schools. However, students like Rahul choose to get loans from companies providing financial help such as banks and it known is student debt but this situations sometime result in effecting their life in terms of mental health and education. It is undeniable that learning systems became business but schools or colleges cannot be blamed alone for “Rising tuition fees and student debt” because there are some other meaningful reason impacting tuition rates that can be advancements in system and Government funding.

Government is considered as public worker and they try to make services available in cheaper than regular market rates to everyone. In similar way they introduce federal funding (funds which are provided by government federal agencies and available to everyone without considering credit history) to students who need to incur higher amount of money on their education. Credit availability get more in market due to low rates of interest on funds and as a result of which college increase rate of their services as Glater correctly notes that “college and university administrations need not worry that a lack of credit could result in fewer students”(111). However, this solution turns into situation as students get into debt trap if they were not able to pay timely payments which and it reduce their participation in studies as “Student financial aid programmes also affect the cost of attendance at the university” (Christine Neill 103).

Competition between educating bodies are on its highest level and they are trying to maintain and develop quality of their teaching system better than other. Every university is trying to attract students to get enroll, by using different criteria. Firstly, student amenities such as health and medical care, organizing workshops clubs like dance clubs and basketball club. They charge ancillary fees (Junor and Usher states that “Ancillary fees are generally defined as any mandatory and/or universal fee levied by an institution that is not part of the basic tuition charge”(123) ) for all above stated expenses. Furthermore large universities charge higher fees because they invest a lot for developing infrastructure like University of British Columbia has constructed swimming pool of 39 million dollars. In addition to this UBC is going to charge about 38000 dollars from students in arts and design program within next three years. The above stated advancements led to enlargement in expenses and to make these expenses covered, they charge more fees from students. Some students change their area of interest when they get familiar with unexpected tuition rates as noted by Walton “about 4% stated that they probably would not have entered the program had they been familiar with the costs and potential earnings” (913a)

Surprisingly parents can be taken as main issue in several ways for rising student debt. Firstly financial support from families can solve the problem of rising tuition expenses and student debt as if they provide money to their child then they can come out of this debt circle or even they does not face it. Consequently, Canada is multi-cultural nation and has pupils from various backgrounds on the basis of culture, religion and races and get support differently on the basis of their family earnings or wealth. Black students get no support from their parents and they left with choice of borrowing funds “African Americans are less likely to have family resources to support educational costs, which leads them to be more likely to borrow money for school than White students” (Jinhee, et al 100) and they need to work for new welcoming expenses as Christine Neill has shown that “Higher tuition fees are a possible explanation for the increase in students’ in-semester Work” (103). It cause affect to their education productivity in terms of grades in subjects and absenteeism as Jinhee, et al states that “Blacks… college attendance is significantly lower than White” (99). Secondly, parents can socialize their children borrowing and earning habits “A study in Canada found there is a strong relationship between people’s own savings behavior and the priority they place on passing these values on to their children” (Jinhee, et al 101).

Tuition rates are not only expense that student cover with help of debts because as along with price for learning in classroom they also borrow money to for living expenses. This is not case of that students who pursue with their studies while living with family but for them who came to Canada as international students or migrate from one province to other in search of better university that match best to their area of interest “For families who have children who go away for school, the expenses can be much higher” (Macdonald and Shaker 16). Jukon and Usher correctly notes that about 49 percent of total students are living away from their family in Canada (135).Living expenses are different on the basis of university location as in 2003 students studying in Toronto were paying $891 per month, which was approximately double than students paying rent in Prince George, British Columbia(Jukon and Usher 137)

Theoretically, tuition increases would not be a major issue if the income levels for families were rising at a similar rate, but they are not. Specifically in Ontario, families which want their pupil to get success and pay their tuition fees for four year degrees face many problems due to years of income stagnation as Macdonald and Shaker states that “growing income inequality, particularly for the bottom 60% of earners, has become an entrenched feature of life in Ontario” (9) and steadily rising tuition rates as Macdonald and Shaker correctly notes that income increased by approximately by only 10 percent in whole period (10). Later on families take many months to pay off this debt as if one lowest income quintile family takes student debt to pay their child fees for under graduation then they would be able to pay it in 1268 days (Macdonald and shaker 19)

In conclusion, I felt ashamed by the lack of action on the part of hiking tuition rates. Government chose to dismiss the complaint by providing federal funding rather than to address the main reasons of tuition increases. Providing students and their families the opportunity to accumulate more debt is no solution as it make them more insecure for future in terms of financial burden (MacDonald and shaker 27). If this problem will remain occurring in same manner then children like Rahul will not be able to study “For the foreseeable future Ontario tuition rates will increase at 4% to 4.5% a year, more than double the rate of inflation” (Macdonald and shaker 26) and their talent will remain up to their own and cannot be used for the betterment of economy, nations which provide free education (Germany), they get their expenses covered when that knowledge of students is used for development. Last but not the least, ruling leaders should promote public schools and universities to discard private teaching system because it help in reducing debts as well as enhance economy status “Investing in higher education — and in making higher education more affordable and accessible — is not only good financial sense; it enhances… economic potential” (Macdonald and shaker 27).