Most recently, the University of British Columbia announced its plan for a 10% international tuition increase for 2015. Being an international student myself, this news could not have come as a bigger shock. Since the tuition paid by international students is already more than triple the tuition domestic students pay,  it seemed rather ridiculous when UBC proposed such plans without giving students a single insight into how the money generated from the increased tuition would be used.

As pessimistic and sad at this may sound, I have come to see many universities and post-secondary institutions as a corporation. A corporation where students serve as the consumers buying the luxury good we call education. A corporation where the institution we call university serves as a firm blinded by profit. Why must the young minds of today, the people which society relies on to create a healthy, sustainable future, have to pay increasing amounts of money to have access to knowledge… to have access to the beautiful process we call learning? And most importantly, why has education become a luxury?

Getting back to the specific example at hand, would UBC actually be benefiting from such a decision? My personal answer is no. Firstly, the fundamental negative relationship between price and quantity demanded highlighted in the study of Economics will serve to demonstrate the fact that higher prices lead to lower demand. Although the extent to which demand falls (in this case, the number of students enrolling in UBC from 2015 onwards) is yet to be seen, it is clear that UBC will be able to attract a larger pool of bright, young minds if it were to keep its tuition at a more affordable rate. And ultimately, isn’t the goal of any university to attract the brightest minds of today? Yes, it is indeed true that other renown universities in Canada have increased their tuition fees. Should UBC follow their lead, or instead, should they lead the change and make the bold move to do otherwise to show students that money is not the solution.

An important question arises from this discussion is:  Who is the university serving? The corporation… or us?

SOURCE

http://ubyssey.ca/news/10-per-cent-international-tuition-increase-proposed-for-2015-876/