Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeCee
The U-Pass should be the same for all institutions.. we should be working on making post-secondary education as affordable as possible to everyone.
SpongeG.. did you ever stop to think that maybe people attending smaller institutions aren't necessarily there by choice? Douglas College, VCC, Langara, etc are all much cheaper (and smaller) than UBC and SFU.. just because tuition is less for them doesn't mean that they have more money to spend on transit.
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But a lot are there simply because they couldn't be bothered to go elsewhere bother or didn't have the initiative to get to better places. It's kind of an irrelevant point. If you can't work hard enough during the school year to stay in university you generally can work hard enough during the summer or part time to support yourself. I'd like to point out that if anyone is willing to get off their ass and work some of the more challenging jobs available in the summer season it's not hard to expect to earn $15-20K in a summer regardless of what field of study you're taking.
While on coop terms there really isn't much additional opportunity to earn more money than a college student in the summer. The tuition difference makes a huge difference. The students of the various colleges should be able and expected to cover their asses just as effectively as university students.
Also where do you draw the line when organizing the costs? If you want to break another level you may as well say that arts students at UBC should pay less for the u-pass than engineering or commerce students at UBC or SFU. Hell, they already pay less for tuition (~$135/credit for arts vs $15x for engineering vs $20x for commerce at UBC) even in the same classes, not to mention they have to take less classes.
I really don't feel sympathy for people who complain about tuition costs. Its there, but it makes it so you have to justify the investment in yourself and actually put consideration and a hell of a lot of hard work into a degree. If you make it a free ride you devalue the degree.