Rising costs of higher learning
Eliminating fees involves trade-offs
May 1968. A student revolt in France turns into a mass movement with 10 million workers on strike in a tumultuous spring that almost brings down the Charles de Gaulle government.
One result of the uprising was the promise of a free university education – a topic that is being hotly debated today in France and other European countries with no or low tuition fees while they cope with crumbling economies.
Quebecers are now seven weeks into a widespread strike by university and CEGEP students over the politically charged and divisive issue of tuition fees.
Students have been squaring off with police on a daily basis as they block buildings, streets and bridges in a bid to have their battle cry heard.
And while the real battle is focused on forcing the Liberals to rescind a planned $325-a-year tuition increase over five years, to begin this September, student leaders persistently raise the idea of their ultimate goal: no tuition fees at all. Is the idea feasible? The Institut de recherche et d’informations socio-économique (IRIS) calculates the cost of free tuition in Quebec at about $400 million to $700 million a year.
Alex Usher, president of Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA), notes: “Free tuition gives access, sure – but access to what?”
In other words, he said, be prepared to give up something because “tuition allows universities to do things they couldn’t do if they only relied on government funding.”
In France, in 2011, fees were set at $189 for a bachelor’s degree.
But students must pay health insurance and social security if they are over 20, and universities are increasingly adding supplementary fees on top of basic tuition that range from a few euros to several thousand.
Similarly, in Ireland, no tuition fees are charged. But the registration fees were increased by 500 euros in 2011 to 2,000 euros (about $2,650).
At the pinnacle of French education are the Grandes Écoles, which are highly selective and elitist, while universities are considered underfunded and overpopulated – with stories of decaying buildings, poor libraries and few student services – and the value of their degrees has been questioned.
“It is absurd to think of having free universities,” said Michel Leblanc, president of the Chambre de Commerce du Montréal Métropolitain.
“The economic models in Europe are different. Free tuition is not realistic in the North American context.”
But Eric Martin, a researcher at IRIS, believes free tuition is not only feasible, it would allow universities to escape the “corporate mentality” that has defined them in recent years.
“It would not only improve accessibility, it would remove universities from their com- mercial purpose.”
Martin remembers the 1960s, when UNESCO member nations were striving for free tuition. But in the 1970s, the U.S. model won favour and tuition – backed up by student loans and bursaries – became the common practice.
“There’s no mathematical or economical reason we couldn’t do it,” he said of free tuition.
“Instead of putting money into other things, like a new nuclear plant, it should be put into this.”
Usher, who runs a Torontobased consultancy on higher education, says free tuition may work in some countries but trade-offs are involved.
And despite students wanting to abolish tuition fees to improve accessibility, it often has the opposite effect, he said.
“If you charge tuition, you can offer more places to people. If you don’t, you have to ration more, and generally speaking, the rationing happens according to academic merit – and since this tends to be correlated with family background, these free systems actually tend to be less egalitarian than the larger, tuition-charging ones.”
In Brazil, which has private and public universities, wealthier students tend to end up in the public ones because it takes money to hire tutors to prepare for difficult entrance exams.
Similarly, in Greece, “free” education is far from free because of costs incurred trying to get into university.
With financial crises touching many parts of the globe, HESA’S report on Global Changes in Tuition Fee Policies says “higher education institutions are increasingly being required to raise funds from students as opposed to relying on transfers from governments.”
Furthermore, it says, across the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development “government support for education only barely kept up with inflation in 2011 and the outlook for 2012 looks bleak given the debt crises in the eurozone.”
But Martin believes tuition increases do not solve problems of underfunding, and that the policy of free education is more socially sustainable than tuition hikes.
And he thinks potential drawbacks don’t have to apply to Quebec.
“There doesn’t have to be elitist measures or mandatory military service or leaking roofs. The government lost $2.4 billion alone from stopping the business tax on capital. They have the money, they just have to have the political will.”
Joel Pedneault, vicepresident of external affairs for the Student Society of Mcgill University, views free education as a solution to many problems.
“It creates universities that are accessible and diverse,” he said. “Abolishing tuition fees wouldn’t solve all problems of accessibility, but it would go a long way.”