Tuition refunds for grads?

Re: “Free tuition’s tradeoff would be tighter access” (Editorial, Feb. 20)

Your editorial highlights the opposing goals of universal access to a university education and the limiting effects that free tuition would have on that access and on the quality of the education received.

Here is a novel, marketoriented way to resolve these issues:

Charge moderately high tuition fees to attend university. Then refund all or most of what they have paid (including living expenses) to those students who graduate with degrees.

This policy would encourage all students to take their studies seriously, benefiting the students, the university, and society as a whole.

What about those who cannot afford the fees and

» other expenses up front?

Reasonably good,amotivated students should have no trouble getting loans, which they would be able to repay with their refunds if and when they graduate. All graduates would be debt-free under this scheme.

The unrefunded fees of those who fail to graduate could be considered pay- ment for the privilege of unproductively using the university’s resources for a few years. The possibility that non-graduates could be left with large debts would make people think seriously about whether they want to attend university. It would undoubtedly deter some, but it would do so for the right, non-financial, reasons. Norman White

Montreal

I fully agree that students are within their rights to insist on paying 1972-level tuition fees.

However, upon graduation, they should be prepared to work for 1972-level salaries. Alex Hrycay

Brossard