Students fight to keep their undergraduate major funded - Stag Rezscore Insight

TheFightthe Fees campaign is a multi-province campaign that calls on federal and provincial governments to create strategies and funding formulas that progressively reduce and eliminate tuition fees,studentloans and interest, and invest in public education.

Zack Power Some of the changesstudentswere calling on included the elimination of tuition fees, funding to assist with rising living costs, and the conversion of all loans into non-repayable grants.

A news release issued by CFS-Ontario ahead of the protest highlighted increasing tuition fees — particularly for internationalstudents— and decreasing government funding for education. The statement also notedstudents'increasing living costs, with rising rent and food costs impacting Toronto.

That is, a funding formula tied to faculty andstudentnumbers by department allows the province to match university incentives to public interest in the university's teaching and research mission without interfering in university governance. Institutional inertia guarantees that any change will be slow and gradual.

For years, universities and colleges have become increasingly dependent on internationalstudentstokeeptheirbudgets afloat. So how did it get to this point?

As a result, multiple public colleges in Ontario have announced cuts to programs and staff and cited the decline in internationalstudentintakes and fees as amajorreason. Public community colleges are vulnerable not just because of their smaller size and resources, compared to universities, but also due to the government's immigration policy.

"Those supports include help for neurodiversestudents,studentswith mental health issues and disabilities, and an emergency fund has been endowed to provide support forundergraduatestudentsfacing unexpected financial challenges that impact their well-being and threaten their capacity to continue their education.

Peter MacKinnon: Hard truths confront Canadian universities struggling to survive Places of higher learning are grappling with declining enrolment and funding while politicization is challenging ...

After a decade marked by funding cutbacks and a tuition freeze, the province's universities face the future with an eye for opportunities.