College students deserve better

THE SPECTATOR’S VIEW

The longest college faculty strike in Ontario history is over, but the harm it’s doing to students continues.

Financial hardship, emotional distress and anxiety about future studies — these are the strike’s devastating fallout for countless students, and the public should be paying more attention.

While the college administrations, faculty and provincial government want everyone to believe all’s well on college campuses, the reality is more troubling.

Nearly 25,700 full-time college students received tuition refunds in the wake of this fall’s five-week strike, it was revealed this week.

This means they’ve ended their studies for this semester and possibly forever.

After often downplaying the strike’s negative consequences, Advanced Education and Skills Development Minister Deb Matthews reminded the public this week that nearly 90 per cent of college students stuck to their programs. That’s looking at things backwards. The public should be alarmed that a staggering 10.3 per cent of the 250,000 full-time students enrolled in Ontario’s 24 colleges dropped out after the strike.

That’s five times the two-per-cent dropout rate that would be seen in a typical semester. What has just happened is unprecedented in Ontario.

While many of those who dropped out want to continue their studies, they have no guarantees.

They might be able to resume classes either in January or September. But they might not find a place because other students will be advancing into that stage of their own courses.

As for the students who stuck with their programs, many have missed weeks of valuable practical placements in their field.

And it’s doubtful whether the two weeks the colleges tacked on to this semester will provide them with as good an education as they would have had in those five weeks lost to strike. They’re not getting what they paid for. People should bear in mind, too, that the students who claimed tuition refunds will not recoup everything they’ve paid the colleges, which are free to keep ancillary and health plan fees.

At Waterloo Region’s Conestoga College, for instance, students were typically eligible for a $2,059-refund from the $2,720 they gave the college for the semester — just three-quarters of what they’d spent.

Given that the unionized faculty members had a legal right to withdraw their services, Ontarians should not blame the government for the strike.

But now, as one semester ends and another is soon to commence, the Liberals should work even harder with the colleges and their faculty in the interests of the students — both those who stayed and those who left.

The system failed thousands of college students this fall. It must not do so again.

Everything possible should be done to help those who dropped out to re-enter their programs. More counselling should be available.

Those who administer the strike relief fund for students who experienced hardship should be generous in providing assistance.

The colleges should also reveal the course failure rates from this semester.

The people hurt most by this strike — students — deserve better than they’ve received.

Their future is our responsibility.