“In the U.S., average debt at graduation rose to $25,250 in 2010, according to a Nov. 3 report by the Project on Student Debt. Here in Canada, students were graduating with an average debt of $26,680 according to a 2009 report released by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation. If anything, the Canadian average is higher now.”
The US financial aid is from the federal government and the universities themselves. The writer further states that, “by charging students from wealthy backgrounds high rates, universities are able to provide significant aid for students from low-income backgrounds.”
Essentially the rich are supplementing the tuition of the poor. If you like this system, the powers-that-be will have to determine what is considered rich and low-income. In fact, parents’ income will be used to decide the students’ income level. Then a ‘fair’ means test will have to be devised and recipients will have to complete this test. And so, some will be judged ‘low-income’ and benefit and others will be deemed ‘rich’ and will be required to pay the full, published tuition. Of course, they will be a percentage of students and parents who will feel that they were unfairly labeled as rich.
Do you prefer to pay a lower tuition with less financial aid? Or a higher sticker price with the possibility of getting a reduction as a result of financial aid?
