On Campus: Education per hour
Feb 2nd, 2010 | By NewsEditor | Category: Blogs, On Campus
You may have noticed that there’s a fair bit of chatter around Calgary right now concerning the cost of tuition. At the University of Calgary, some professional programs are facing potential increases of up to 47 per cent in some circumstances. Even though the province made a promise to students that tuition wouldn’t rise more than the consumer price index (that means a 1.5 per cent increase in tuition next year), they made a one-time offer for institutions to increase base tuition costs.
In the case of the U of C’s medical program, this means tacking on an additional $4,000 per year in fees. According to the Calgary Herald, that would be a 27.8 per cent rise from $14,384 to $18,600 (yowch!).
U of C business students would face a daunting increase of 47 per cent, paying $7,638 for two five-class semesters. For me, 10 classes comes out to about $5,800. Like many, many students, I will spend more than 8 semesters here to finish a 4-year degree. And every additional semester means additional fees like Students Association costs, health benefits (because I’m my own insurance), athletic fees and U Pass. So 4 classes a semester will end up costing you more than 5 classes. Unless you took fewer classes so you could work, so that you could take out a smaller (or no) loan, therefore reducing future interst payments.
But that’s complicated.
I calculated that when all my classes run their full length this semester, I get 14 hours of instructional time every week for about 13 weeks. That’s 182 hours of instructional time, total. Meaning I pay $16 per hour of class.
Perhaps I should add in the $400 or so I spent on textbooks that I sort of sometimes read. That comes out to about $18 per class hour.
Now what else could I spend $18 on?
Six $3-hiballs at the Lib today.
A few days worth of groceries.
18 songs on iTunes.
A 14-inch pizza from Canadian Pizza Unlimited.
A USB Drive.
12 copies of the Calgary Herald.
And imagine you make $12/hour at a part time job. If it costs you $18 per hour of class time, then you have to work 21 hours a week just to make up for that amount, not to mention your rent, and food and other constant expenses.
Okay, you get the point. If you had to swipe your debit card for $18 every time you had an hour of class, you would probably spend a lot of time thinking about the cost of your education. Is every hour worth it? Probably not.
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Wow, this really put things into perspective. Nice work Zoey, you have completely bummed me out.
Awesome blog Zoey…depressing as it is. Maybe I should think a little harder next time I want to skip
I’m a UofC student (a transfer from Mount Royal). I did a similar breakdown early in my degree. It makes you think twice before skipping, and also makes you think twice before doing 4-course semesters.
I did a fee and tuition breakdown using my winter 2009 (MRC) and winter 2010 (UofC) costs, and the cost of attending was nearly identical at the two institutions (MRC charges an $80 faculty fee for degree students as well as higher health and rec fees, while base tuition is higher at the UofC).
The fees you pay certainly re-enforce this notion. Get that degree done sooner rather than later folks.
As an aside, I ask all of my former MRC/MRU mates to support UofC students in this battle. This may not impact you now, but should you desire to stay in Calgary and pursue grad studies, or transfer institutions for one reason or another, this will have a direct hit on your pocketbooks. We can’t go this battle alone, and we would greatly appreciate your support.
-Chris