Trends around tuition fees What students need to know By Kennedy Kierans hether you’re in math, sports science, or English, a lot of post-secondary education is about the numbers. How many students go to a school? What average do I need to get in? How long will it take to graduate? But for many students and their families, some of the most important numbers are about costs. How much is tuition? How much are fees? According to the provincial government, the average full-time college student in BC paid roughly $2,600 in tuition fees for the 2010 / 2011 school year, an increase of 1.6% over 2009 / 2010. The lowest fees .were at Vancouver Community College (VCC), and the highest were at Okanagan College. Douglas was slightly above average, at $2,658 for 2010 / 2011. Compared to the rest of Canada, BC’s average college tuition rate has fluctuated widely, going from one of the most expensive in 1990 / 1991 ($1,061) to one of the cheapest in 1999 / 2000 ($1,433), and back to middle of the pack ($2,792) in 2007 / 2008. But where are tuition rates headed now? For the past several years, the provincial government has limited fee increases to just two percent, and there is no indication that that policy will change. Fees for the 2011 / 2012 academic year are under review. According to Blaine Jensen, Vice-President of Educational Services for the college, any increases will be finalized and announced in the next few weeks. Despite the increases, tuition at BC’s colleges is still a bargain compared to the universities, with full- time tuition there ranging from $3,300 a year to over $6,000 for 2010 / 2011. On average, BC universities increased tuitions by 174% between 1990 / 1991 and 2006 / 2007. Shockingly, average tuition increases in in the chart below. five other provinces were even higher, with fees in Alberta nearly quadrupling in that period. While all this may make your head spin, for some students it gets worse. These numbers represent what Canadian students pay for tuition. Across the country, international students pay significantly higher fees. At Douglas, tuition fees for international students are four to five times higher ($450 per credit versus $88 to $106 per credit) than for Canadian students. As well, student fees add about $500 to the total MB bill for full-time students here at Douglas, roughly half of which is for the mandatory medical and dental plan. 1 These fees are the same for international students. For visual people, check out how B.C. compares 1990/1991 NF 484 1,11 NB 500 Average College Tuition Fees 1999/2000 2000/2001 1 452 2007/2008 1,452 1 400 400 ‘A 1 1 1 Source: Council on Post-Secondary Education; Cited by a 2009 report to the Manitoba Ministry of Advanced Education (http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ael/docreports/ commision_final_report.pdf) Marijuana clinic opens in Vancouver, while war on dope continues By Maria Asselin-Roy, Staff Reporter ecently, the sixth medical marijuana clinic has opened in Vancouver. There are six volunteers that operate the medical cannabis dispensary and it is the first in South Vancouver. The director of the clinic states that “We want to destigmatize marijuana use, what we’re trying to do here is bring it out in the open and show that medical marijuana is just another type of medicine.” Patients entering the clinic must bring proof of having a serious illness as well as a recommendation from a doctor allowing the patient to have marijuana. Some people in South Vancouver are worried that this will turn the neighbourhood into a drug-filled one, although the owner has clearly stated that not just anybody can purchase the cannabis but they must have the above 4 requirements. Although there have been some cases where a person’s family doctor was not supportive of marijuana treatment, so there is another doctor available provided by other treatment centres that will assess the individual. The clinic, along with the other five in Vancouver, is “on the edge of legislative law.” This is because Health Canada is currently refusing to issue a dispensary license, however Canada’s law has ruled people have a right to medical marijuana. Opposite to Health Canada, more and more people believe that marijuana should be legalized for everyone and not just for the severely ill. Currently, the BC Marijuana Party and other activists are asking for the right to own a maximum of one ounce of marijuana. The BC Marijuana Party is a minor political outfit founded by the currently imprisoned Marc Emery, best known as a Canadian cannabis policy reform advocate. Over the past eleven years, the party has brought together hundreds of cannabis activists and during the first year the party won about 52,000 votes. The party has even recently brought interest in some government officials. Last week, Dana Larson (the first declared candidate in the B.C NDP leadership race) knows that he is an underdog in the government world, but he hopes that this will serve as an advantage while he pursues a campaign that is centred on ending the war on marijuana. During an interview, he states that “I think coming in a little bit from the outside gives me a fresh perspective and will allow me to help make the changes in our party that we need to be successful going forward.” Larson has always been a fairly well known advocate in the legalization of marijuana. He was briefly a leader of the BC Marijuana Party, the founder of the Vancouver Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, and helped start Cannabis Culture magazine. Larson claims that he believes in many issues, but he does not mind being tied with the cannabis issue because no other politicians are talking about it. He also states that there is nothing that legalizing marijuana would make worse, but it would make a lot of things better. Larson believes that we can end the war on marijuana in British Columbia and we will, either now or in the future. Larson is stating that he is going to make sure that cannabis is legalized in British Columbia, or he “will die trying, because it is the most important thing we could do in this province.” Larson was the first candidate to enter the B.C NDP leadership race, and the vote for a new leader will be April 17. The war on marijuana has been going on since the first and second world wars. Whether this war will end is determined by the people of British Columbia and overall the government in order to make the final vote.