Ontario to offer free tuition for students from low-income families

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Ontario to offer free tuition for students from low-income families
Topic Started: Feb 26 2016, 12:58 PM (328 Views)
Darcie	Feb 26 2016, 12:58 PM Post #1
Skeptic Posts: 31,154 Group: Member Member #714 Joined: March 30, 2010	Quote: The vast majority of students whose family income is less than $50,000 a year will receive free college and university tuition under changes to student aid made in this year’s Ontario budget that represent the most radical shift in decades in how the province delivers loans and grants to postsecondary students. The changes eliminate multiple loan and grant programs, and replace a complicated system with one program, the new Ontario Student Grant. Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the cost of the OSG will be “roughly the same” as the current level of $1.3-billion in aid. “In fact, we’ve put in the budget the ability to further support an increase. We want this to be oversubscribed. We want to have more students who would not otherwise look to postsecondary,” he said. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/low-income-ontario-students-to-get-free-postsecondary-education/article28916789/?click=sf_globefb This is good because a country whose citizens are well educated is usually a country where the economy is usually much better. This is a courageous move on the part of this government because anyone and everyone who has an income over $50,000 will be bitching.

Replies:
haili	Feb 27 2016, 06:17 AM Post #16
Gold Star Member Posts: 7,084 Group: Member Member #387 Joined: September 15, 2006	My doctor asked if I wanted to have a colonoscopy. Some tests are offered but if there are no symptoms, I don't take them. I've had a lot of expensive heart tests in the past year and I think if I'd pushed for an angiogram I could have had one.



Dana	Feb 27 2016, 06:27 AM Post #17
WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire Posts: 13,054 Group: Member Member #830 Joined: March 23, 2011	haili Feb 27 2016, 01:26 AM The price of gas and home heating is going up and hydro has already increased in price. Seniors making over $19,500 will have to pay more for prescription drugs. I guess we'd better tighten our belts. Groceries and other items will have to go up yet again because of the increase in gas prices. How this helps the environment is beyond me since people always have to heat their homes in this climate and drive to get to work. I'm not impressed with this provincial govt. Here in BC, low income people get a rebate for the carbon tax on fuel. Not on the amount of gas we buy but income based. Our electric bill goes up in tiers depending on usage so in winter I pay a premium as my home is electrically heated. Should I switch to an oil furnace? How would that help the environment? We still pay a monthly premium for medical and that account has millions outstandig as people are unable or simply do not pay. My point is that we are all paying no matter where we live, no matter what sort of government we have (and we in BC have one in sheep's clothing that only calls itself liberal). Edited by Dana, Feb 27 2016, 06:29 AM.



Deleted User	Feb 27 2016, 08:55 AM Post #18
Deleted User	swing Feb 27 2016, 05:05 AM I would think medical decisions after age 80 would be up to the patient and her G.P. Many people age 80 I know, are in excellent health, if this is true Mouse, I'd be contacting my MLA. Swing, I don't know if it is true or not, that is why I said "I heard it through the grapevine". I hope it is not true. I am 73 and I am going to get as many things done as possible in the next 7 years, just in case. I am also going to ask my doctor about that. What is the MLA? :MapleLeaf:
Deleted User


Deleted User	Feb 27 2016, 08:56 AM Post #19
Deleted User	Darcie Feb 27 2016, 05:18 AM Mouse Feb 27 2016, 04:58 AM I have been hearing through the grape vine, after 80, if a person is not in excellent health, the doctor is advised by the government to not send them for expensive tests. They don't want to waste money on older people. TERRIBLE but I think it is true as I have an 80 year old friend who lives in a Retirement Home and she needed a colonoscopy and the doctor wouldn't send her. He said she wouldn't survive it or wouldn't survive the operation if they found something. I have no faith in our government anymore. This is very difficult for me to believe as many of the people who live in my condo building are over 80. One of my friends is 84 and just had a colonoscopy and surgery. I have not at all heard of that rumour. Where did this come from, do you know? Yes, some people might not survive surgery, I know someone who's sister is 80 and needs a leg amputated but her heart is so bad that if they do surgery she has a huge chance of dying. They are doing many tests to see what could be done. Darcie, surely you know what "through the grapevine" means? laugh123
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Delphi51	Feb 27 2016, 04:34 PM Post #20
Member title Posts: 13,967 Group: Administration Member #441 Joined: October 10, 2006	Any word on the cost? I guess Ontario can afford it by selling off some more shares of Ontario Hydro. And perhaps it will pay for its cost in increased productivity over the long term. It has been said that too many students are taking some programs. Perhaps it would be more productive to use this program to encourage students to take training for careers that need more people.



FuzzyO	Feb 27 2016, 04:48 PM Post #21
Posts: 16,968 Group: Administration Member #710 Joined: March 30, 2010	I think it is a good start and I would like to see it spread to every province. I think in time we will see some tweaking such as you suggest.



Dana	Feb 27 2016, 05:29 PM Post #22
WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire Posts: 13,054 Group: Member Member #830 Joined: March 23, 2011	Out of curiosity, which programs? Any idea why? It used to be that all parents wanted their kids to go to university. I thought that there was more push on the lucrative trades in the past few years.



Durgan	Feb 28 2016, 02:06 AM Post #23
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Dana Feb 27 2016, 05:29 PM Out of curiosity, which programs? Any idea why? It used to be that all parents wanted their kids to go to university. I thought that there was more push on the lucrative trades in the past few years. Lucrative trades?



haili	Feb 28 2016, 05:51 AM Post #24
Gold Star Member Posts: 7,084 Group: Member Member #387 Joined: September 15, 2006	Hydro has gone up, gas and gasoline are going up. Property taxes and condo fees always go up a few bucks and groceries are up this year. My old age pension went up by $5 a month. We will all pay more for almost everything. I hope it's worth it. I heard that kids going to community college will get free tuition too so that includes the trades.



Dana	Feb 28 2016, 06:02 AM Post #25
WWS Hummingbird Guru & Wildlife photographer extrordinaire Posts: 13,054 Group: Member Member #830 Joined: March 23, 2011	Durgan Feb 28 2016, 02:06 AM Dana Feb 27 2016, 05:29 PM Out of curiosity, which programs? Any idea why? It used to be that all parents wanted their kids to go to university. I thought that there was more push on the lucrative trades in the past few years. Lucrative trades? Have you hired a plumber lately?



swing	Feb 28 2016, 07:20 AM Post #26
swing Posts: 9,979 Group: Member Member #359 Joined: August 18, 2006	I think it is a good start and I would like to see it spread to every province. I agree! Our daughter could not even access student loans while living at home as DH made too much money as per gov't guidelines! I thought this unfair, as she was an adult at age 24 when she graduated university. She was able to get loans for her two years of Journalism at Ryerson as she was living on her own. Upon completion of her second degree the interest rates were higher on the loan, than a bank's line of credit. DH paid her loan so she could begin life with a clean slate. Her friend's parents could not afford to do this, and it took her five years to pay her loans down. This girl would've benefited from the above legislation. I don't think anyone should be denied an education if they have the desire to pursue such.



Durgan	Feb 28 2016, 07:30 AM Post #27
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Achievement based education should be free. My son-in-law still owes about 50 grand. PhD (Philosophy) U of T. About 12 years after getting the degree. *There are currently no tuition fees charged in Finnish higher education degrees regardless of the level of studies and the nationality of the student.Jun 22, 2015 Edited by Durgan**, Feb 28 2016, 07:31 AM.



angora	Feb 28 2016, 07:44 AM Post #28
WWS Book Club Coordinator Posts: 14,494 Group: Member Member #717 Joined: March 31, 2010	Durgan, that brings up an issue that has made me think deeply many times. I believe in education. I think that one should go to school to broaden their mind, to be exposed to new thoughts and new ways of thinking and to experience lessons outside the ones they absorb in their past and day to day life. However, that is not what I found education to do. So, your son in law is, maybe, an example of that. He wanted to and did, study philosophy. To what end? How many jobs require or value a Phd in Philosophy? Some people have suggested, on this thread, that the new free further education should steer students into various areas where they are needed so that they wouldn't be graduating with relatively useless degrees when they could be graduating with degrees required by society. Kind of an exchange for their free education. I am not saying which is right and which is not but I don't believe that studying for the purpose of fitting the peg into the right hole is education. It is learning, it would be useful but, unless there was a large component of the studies that were meant solely to encourage the student to think creatively, I don't consider the studies to be education



Delphi51	Feb 28 2016, 08:02 AM Post #29
Member title Posts: 13,967 Group: Administration Member #441 Joined: October 10, 2006	i think Finland is cutting back on university funding. http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150606081055889 The Nordic countries seem to be much more willing to pay high taxes to cover their benefits - and even ration them to avoid deficits. Ontario and Quebec have the highest per capita debt of any other province or state and will be in desperate straits if interest rates rise. Risky. Nor is there any long term benefit from all those deficits because even with historically low rates the cost of servicing the debt is over ten billion per year. Canadian governments already covered more than half of post secondary school costs, plus many scholarships, grants and loans, keeping tuition far lower than in the USA. Quote: n the 1960s and 70s, governments were responsible for more than 90 percent of post-secondary costs. In the 1980s, the government’s share stood at 84 percent of overall funding. Two decades later, government funding accounts for only 57 percent. Higher tuition fees have replaced almost all of the lost government funding (see Figure 3).1 http://cfs-fcee.info/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/11/Fact-Sheet-Funding-2013-11-En.pdf Edited by Delphi51, Feb 28 2016, 08:07 AM.



Durgan	Feb 28 2016, 08:09 AM Post #30
Veteran Member Posts: 13,273 Group: Gardening Guru Member #720 Joined: March 31, 2010	Philosophy degree means you must find a position to teach. It has no other practical purpose. But I don't believe any country can go wrong in assuring all those who are capable from getting as much education as possible. But I would insist that payments for such means, the recipient must achieve a minimum standard or they are cut off from funding. That said, I found the major expense at University was due to the cost of accommodation or living expenses. Of my five children four have degrees one or two, and some trade training often useless. And one has many courses from the community colleges, which I call idiot factories. I paid the full shots.I told them I would pay for their education and they could go a far as they wanted. From my parents I got 2 dollars and a kick in the ass to get out on my own at age 17.Almost like a spawned salmon. They spawned me.



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