CAUT is questioning a report that criticizes tuition freezes as an inefficient way of making post-secondary education more accessible.

The report by the U.S.-based Educational Policy Institute also restates earlier arguments it has made in favour of higher tuition fees combined with enhanced grants for only a small portion of the neediest students.

“This kind of approach to student financial assistance is regressive and would increase tuition fees and debt for the vast majority of students” said Greg Allain, president of CAUT. “We need enhanced government funding to make education affordable for all and targeted assistance to enhance access for those currently shut out the system. The EPI model aims to push Canada down the elitist road of the U.S. system.”

The report titled “The End of Need-Based Student Financial Assistance in Canada?” is highly critical of the current tuition freeze policy in place in many provinces. Though purportedly about student financial assistance, the report says universal tuition fee subsidies are an ineffective and inequitable way of funding post-secondary education and adds that any subsidy of tuition fees should count as student financial assistance and distributed only on the basis of need.
“In effect, the report argues all students should pay a higher proportion of the costs of education with low-income students seeing the cost of their education subsidized by grants,” notes Allain. “At the end of the day, the vast majority of students would rely on loans to pay increased fees.”

The report also suggests tax credits and the registered education savings program disproportionately benefit middle- and upper-income families.

“While we agree RESP initiatives and the patchwork of tax credits should be redirected into needs-based grants, the larger EPI plan is a short-sighted and misguided way of shifting the costs of post-secondary education more onto students,” Allain said.

“In order to build our system of post-secondary education the opportunities and funding should be universal. Those who benefit from a post-secondary education should pay for that benefit through a progressive tax system, not through onerous up-front fees. Far from modernizing the system of student financial assistance, the report paints a picture that would complicate the system of student aid, drive up costs for most students and undermine access.”

The EPI study was commissioned by the Canadian Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, an organization funded by university and colleges administrators.

A pdf version of the 55-page report can be downloaded here: www.educationalpolicy.org/PR_070827_EndofNeed.html.