But yet programs like OSAP here in Ontario do not provide funding for kids, whose parents are divorced and remarried, but keep finances separate from the new spouse. My son may not end up going to university because I was a single mom and had to pay for all of their extracurricular activities plus day-to-day care and needs, and didn’t have enough to put into RESP‘s. Just because I’m married now my son is not eligible for OSAP even though my husband does not have any finances involved with me or my kids. I am scrambling to apply for personal loans just to get him into university never mind the eight year commitment he has to become a lawyer. It is going to kill me. Yet I have friends who live in mansions and all of their kids were eligible because they could write off their income through business structures. And yes, they want their kids to do OSAP which they will pay off later because they can earn more in investing than it would cost to borrow. I work so hard to take care of their needs and when I need a hand, it’s not there. The entire system is broken.
So sorry you’re dealing with such an unfair system! I’m a single mom too and paying for my older child’s education because my ex thinks his support payments are enough (and, trust me, they are not!). At least I’m fortunate enough to get some support, and my child still qualifies for government student loans.. There’d be no post-secondary otherwise.
I am grateful that there are some kids who do qualify like yours. This is what it is supposed to be, for! Unfortunately, I had no support where I even bought my kids clothes for their dad’s house because they were tired of feeling like they were living out of a suitcase. Though my ex-husband‘s parents both passed and now he is Mr. moneybags bragging how he helped our eldest son with school last year. So I responded to him… Yes, I would have money to help as well… If I didn’t have to cover everything when they were growing up. I hate this system… I can only imagine how it would be for somebody who didn’t make the kind of money that I do. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m no money bags myself, but I’ve done OK for a single mom. Frustrating for sure!
Send your story to Carney. This is extremely unfair to mothers who have been single for multiple years through the years they were raising their children. mark.carney@parl.gc.ca
Provinces have failed miserably at funding education, healthcare and housing. There are some solutions, as you touched on, but they’ll require work from the govt and institutions and a realignment of resources. Canadians have so much to be pressuring their govt about. Time to mobilize with unions and grassroots
So, I asked AI what societal ill they would prioritize solving for that would have the greatest positive impact: world hunger, war, genocide, government corruption, climate change and environmental destruction, poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, or mental health, etc, etc. All four AI's (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Claude) responded separately: EDUCATION. Each of them stated that access to quality education for all would be their priority to solve because education is the single most impactful factor that has a positive trickle down effect on ALL the issues society faces.
I agree.
All countries should strive to have an educated citizenry.
The government had better bring back post-secondary funding or the next generations will be hooped. Post-secondary institutions should never have been forced to rely on international students.
I’ve read about the impact at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey. Last I heard, there were impending layoffs of 70 faculty members, but according to the KPU President “the layoffs are focused in areas where the decline in international students has directly reduced demand for specific courses and programs”. He also said that “the search would continue for new sources of income and for savings, including in other employee groups through the hiring review and overtime reductions…We want to assure you the university is committed to providing the courses, services and supports you need to complete your programs.”
As in healthcare, paying the higher-ups is surely a massive expense that could be reduced.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. I just really hope young people don’t end up suffering.
Unless you work in the sector, unfortunately the entire issue is not usually on the electorate’s radar, and only really becomes an issue when you have high school aged children attempting to access college or university, or you’re thinking about a career change that demands post-secondary education requirements.
In my home province of Ontario in 2023, a blue ribbon panel of experts produced a report, after extensive consultation, that outlined the challenges facing post-secondary education.
Ontario, on a per capita basis, funds 44% of college tuition and 57% of university tuition compared to the rest of Canada.
There were five recommendations. Ford’s government received the report. Despite the report outlining the urgency of the situation, his government to date, has not implemented these measures.
Post secondary education is a provincial responsibility. By freezing antiquated funding formulas as status quo, and not increasing them, we are seeing the sector starved to the point of no return, and we’re now reaping the consequences.
These institutions and their students help support and contribute to local economies, particularly in smaller communities throughout the province. If these communities lose these institutions not only will financial setbacks be felt. Just as importantly, there will be a loss of vibrancy in losing a younger demographic in these communities, in terms of culture, music and the arts that will also have a lasting and profound impact.
The only thing that the federal government can do is devise a sensible foreign student policy, listening to these institutions in terms of what they require and making sure that those foreign students that are educated in the professions we require are able to be fast-tracked to work after graduation. The reality is that these international students have been shoring up and subsidizing our broken system.
The feds also need to address student housing, which could easily be rolled into their current mandate. Lastly, using tariff revenue, any individuals who are laid off in the sectors affected, should have the opportunity to access post-secondary training, through a federal fund set up for that purpose. They are already planning to expand funding for trades to assist with a housing boom, and this could also be rolled into that mandate.
Until we demand changes broadly across the country, we will start to see some of these public institutions go into receivership. If Carney wants to make our economy the best in the G7, we need to fight and ensure we expand our competitive advantage through an educated populace. The two go hand in hand, and we owe it to our young people.
Timely report Cole. Another impact of a lack of funding to this post secondary sector is the decline of buildings and infrastructure due to a lack of funding for maintenance and renewal. This is having direct impact on building and campus occupants' learning & teaching experience. Unfortunately, lack of maintenance leads to deteriorating buildings and systems that then require significantly more investment to bring them back to operational requirements.
A lack of investment in infrastructure generally throughout provinces is getting to a critical stage We really need both longer-term vision and capital plans to address this aging problem. Definitely something Federal government investments working with Provinces can address - even though the prime responsibility is Provincial.
It seems an educated public is bad for business. More educated societies are less easily “managed” by their governments. Canadians used to be the tops in education, we need to continue to be, we need to demand better! We only need look at the US to see where we’re heading if we refuse to demand more.
Conservatives prefer a dumb electorate. An uneducated electorate is easier to manipulate. Post secondary education should be free period end of story.
But yet programs like OSAP here in Ontario do not provide funding for kids, whose parents are divorced and remarried, but keep finances separate from the new spouse. My son may not end up going to university because I was a single mom and had to pay for all of their extracurricular activities plus day-to-day care and needs, and didn’t have enough to put into RESP‘s. Just because I’m married now my son is not eligible for OSAP even though my husband does not have any finances involved with me or my kids. I am scrambling to apply for personal loans just to get him into university never mind the eight year commitment he has to become a lawyer. It is going to kill me. Yet I have friends who live in mansions and all of their kids were eligible because they could write off their income through business structures. And yes, they want their kids to do OSAP which they will pay off later because they can earn more in investing than it would cost to borrow. I work so hard to take care of their needs and when I need a hand, it’s not there. The entire system is broken.
🫂
So sorry you’re dealing with such an unfair system! I’m a single mom too and paying for my older child’s education because my ex thinks his support payments are enough (and, trust me, they are not!). At least I’m fortunate enough to get some support, and my child still qualifies for government student loans.. There’d be no post-secondary otherwise.
I am grateful that there are some kids who do qualify like yours. This is what it is supposed to be, for! Unfortunately, I had no support where I even bought my kids clothes for their dad’s house because they were tired of feeling like they were living out of a suitcase. Though my ex-husband‘s parents both passed and now he is Mr. moneybags bragging how he helped our eldest son with school last year. So I responded to him… Yes, I would have money to help as well… If I didn’t have to cover everything when they were growing up. I hate this system… I can only imagine how it would be for somebody who didn’t make the kind of money that I do. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m no money bags myself, but I’ve done OK for a single mom. Frustrating for sure!
Send your story to Carney. This is extremely unfair to mothers who have been single for multiple years through the years they were raising their children. mark.carney@parl.gc.ca
Provinces have failed miserably at funding education, healthcare and housing. There are some solutions, as you touched on, but they’ll require work from the govt and institutions and a realignment of resources. Canadians have so much to be pressuring their govt about. Time to mobilize with unions and grassroots
So, I asked AI what societal ill they would prioritize solving for that would have the greatest positive impact: world hunger, war, genocide, government corruption, climate change and environmental destruction, poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, or mental health, etc, etc. All four AI's (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Claude) responded separately: EDUCATION. Each of them stated that access to quality education for all would be their priority to solve because education is the single most impactful factor that has a positive trickle down effect on ALL the issues society faces.
I agree.
All countries should strive to have an educated citizenry.
The government had better bring back post-secondary funding or the next generations will be hooped. Post-secondary institutions should never have been forced to rely on international students.
I’ve read about the impact at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey. Last I heard, there were impending layoffs of 70 faculty members, but according to the KPU President “the layoffs are focused in areas where the decline in international students has directly reduced demand for specific courses and programs”. He also said that “the search would continue for new sources of income and for savings, including in other employee groups through the hiring review and overtime reductions…We want to assure you the university is committed to providing the courses, services and supports you need to complete your programs.”
As in healthcare, paying the higher-ups is surely a massive expense that could be reduced.
It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out. I just really hope young people don’t end up suffering.
Unless you work in the sector, unfortunately the entire issue is not usually on the electorate’s radar, and only really becomes an issue when you have high school aged children attempting to access college or university, or you’re thinking about a career change that demands post-secondary education requirements.
In my home province of Ontario in 2023, a blue ribbon panel of experts produced a report, after extensive consultation, that outlined the challenges facing post-secondary education.
https://files.ontario.ca/mcu-ensuring-financial-sustainability-for-ontarios-postsecondary-sector-en-2023-11-14.pdf
Ontario, on a per capita basis, funds 44% of college tuition and 57% of university tuition compared to the rest of Canada.
There were five recommendations. Ford’s government received the report. Despite the report outlining the urgency of the situation, his government to date, has not implemented these measures.
Post secondary education is a provincial responsibility. By freezing antiquated funding formulas as status quo, and not increasing them, we are seeing the sector starved to the point of no return, and we’re now reaping the consequences.
These institutions and their students help support and contribute to local economies, particularly in smaller communities throughout the province. If these communities lose these institutions not only will financial setbacks be felt. Just as importantly, there will be a loss of vibrancy in losing a younger demographic in these communities, in terms of culture, music and the arts that will also have a lasting and profound impact.
The only thing that the federal government can do is devise a sensible foreign student policy, listening to these institutions in terms of what they require and making sure that those foreign students that are educated in the professions we require are able to be fast-tracked to work after graduation. The reality is that these international students have been shoring up and subsidizing our broken system.
The feds also need to address student housing, which could easily be rolled into their current mandate. Lastly, using tariff revenue, any individuals who are laid off in the sectors affected, should have the opportunity to access post-secondary training, through a federal fund set up for that purpose. They are already planning to expand funding for trades to assist with a housing boom, and this could also be rolled into that mandate.
Until we demand changes broadly across the country, we will start to see some of these public institutions go into receivership. If Carney wants to make our economy the best in the G7, we need to fight and ensure we expand our competitive advantage through an educated populace. The two go hand in hand, and we owe it to our young people.
Timely report Cole. Another impact of a lack of funding to this post secondary sector is the decline of buildings and infrastructure due to a lack of funding for maintenance and renewal. This is having direct impact on building and campus occupants' learning & teaching experience. Unfortunately, lack of maintenance leads to deteriorating buildings and systems that then require significantly more investment to bring them back to operational requirements.
A lack of investment in infrastructure generally throughout provinces is getting to a critical stage We really need both longer-term vision and capital plans to address this aging problem. Definitely something Federal government investments working with Provinces can address - even though the prime responsibility is Provincial.
It seems an educated public is bad for business. More educated societies are less easily “managed” by their governments. Canadians used to be the tops in education, we need to continue to be, we need to demand better! We only need look at the US to see where we’re heading if we refuse to demand more.
I don’t understand the logic…. If trump keeps you all academically uneducated will he get more votes?
NOT cool. Not one bit!