Quebec Students: “Faire Leur Juste Part”

Simon Tremblay-Pepin, an emerging social policy scholar, has recently blogged here (in French) about Quebec tuition fees.

He points out that, when one adjusts for inflation, Quebec tuition fees are headed into uncharted territory. Indeed, contrary to some recent spin from the Charest government, Tremblay-Pepin makes two important observations:

1. When one takes an average of Quebec tuition fees over the past45 years (using constant dollars), current Quebec tuition fees are significantly higher than the 45-year average.

2. The tuition-fee increases being proposed by the Charest government would bring Quebec’s tuition fees to their highest levels ever.

The above observations call into question what the Charest government actually means when it asks today’s generation of Quebec students to “pay their fair share.” Or, as they say in French, “faire leur juste part.”

2 comments

  • Darwin O'Connor

    Saying tuition fees where lower in the past doesn’t in itself justify not raising them. They arguably where too low in the past.

  • Saying prices are higher in other provinces does not justify rising them also.
    Following this argument we should raise all prices across the country as soon as somebody, somewhere feels like asking a bit more.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *