Re evaluating Quebec Tuition Fees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Re evaluating Quebec Tuition Fees - Essay Example It is in this light that this paper aims to re-evaluate Quebec's Universities Tuition fees. Education in Canada is the responsibility of each province, with this; educational system varies from province to province. The provinces have their respective department of education, which exercises control over most facet of the educational system from teacher's certification, to development of curriculum as well as the nature of the yearly provincial appropriations to mention a few. With regards to post-secondary education, responsibility likewise goes to the individual provinces. The provincial government contributes majority of the funding to their post-secondary institutions and the balance of the funding come from tuition fees, federal government and research grants among others. Quebec's educational system requires children to attend school until the level of Secondary V. All Quebec residents are entitled to pre-school, elementary and secondary school services which are free of charge in public schools. The province likewise, has a high percentage of children going to private schools. It can be inferred from the table below that, the provincial government grants a pro-rata subsidy for a child attending a private school upon its compliance with its prescribed criterion. However, despite of this subsidy, the tuition fees continues to be very high. Similarly, it fosters a debate regarding subsidies to private elementary and secondary schools over the years.Table 1- Revenues of Private and Secondary Schools Revenue1 On the other hand, for the post-secondary education, most students continue to Collge d' enseignment general et professional or CEGEP, which is a preparation for university studies. Table 2- Average undergraduate tuition fees for academic year 2006-2007 2 What is note worthy about the educational system of Quebec is that it subsidizes post-secondary education and is known for the low cost of university education. Table 3- Universities and colleges revenue and expenditures, by province and territory 3 (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan) 2006 Canada Que. Ont. Man. Sask. $ thousands Total revenue 31,850,915 7,176,352 12,605,754 933,762 1,213,474 Own source revenue 14,578,584 2,148,493 6,917,595 361,069 528,743 Sales of goods and services 11,333,439 1,436,158 5,481,395 258,623 405,998 Tuition fees 6,649,086 633,503 3,403,665 169,500 206,646 Other sales of goods and services 4,684,353 802,655 2,077,730 89,123 199,352 Investments income 945,312 172,044 419,446 15,473 43,526 Other own source revenue 2,299,833 540,291 1,016,754 86,973 79,219 Transfers from other levels of governments 17,272,331 5,027,859 5,688,159 572,693 684,731 Federal government 2,902,432 797,580 1,099,060 78,255 105,641 Provincial governments 14,335,434 4,225,137 4,574,457 494,416 578,531 Local governments 34,465 5,142 14,642 22 559 Total expenditures 31,842,146 7,261,714 12,549,219 946,624 1,245,584 Education 31,211,530 6,897,337 12,368,743 942,819 1,243,143 Postsecondary education 30,902,499 6,797,332 12,182,495 942,819 1,225,760 Administration 5,861,237 1,230,038 2,173,167 214,395 214,133 Education 15,600,477 3,605,818 6,084,588 483,984 618,001 Support to students 1,111,258 169,969 617,910 12,091 30,916 Other postsecondary education expenses 8,329,527 1,791,507 3,306,830 232,349 362,710 Debt