Alberta Should Lower Tuition

What is the point of growing up in Oil rich Alberta if you end up paying the highest tuition in the country? Alberta has a skilled labour shortage, duh!

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Here is what I suggest: Alberta should lower its tuition to Quebec levels. Contrary to Quebec, however, the province should charge Alberta rates to all Canadian students. The benefits would be as follows:

1. Low rates could be short term. If the Alberta oil industry collapses (as it has the unfortunate habit of doing) and provincial revenues plummet, it would be relatively easy to jack up the rates.


2. Low rates would attract students from across Canada who would be more likely to stay in Alberta once they graduated. Alberta would also benefit from the many students who don't finish their program (low skills are needed in Alberta as well).


3. The cities where colleges and universities are located would benefit from the part time and summer labour students can provide.


4. Workers who are working in Alberta would have an incentive to move their families to Alberta (from Atlantic Canada, for example). The benefit would help compensate for the higher housing costs.


5. There would be a perceived national benefit. Canadians would be therefore less likely to demand part of the Alberta oil money pie.

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If I was a skilled labourer in Quebec and had high school kids I'd think twice before moving to Alberta. Community college in Quebec is free. The first year of university is free (CEGEP). Then, compared to Alberta, you save 63% off tuition for the last three years!

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If you have pre-schoolers in Quebec, all you pay is $7 a day for daycare! How much does daycare cost in labour shortage Alberta? Basically, the only Quebeckers Alberta makes sense for are gays and high school dropouts.

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From the Ottawa Sun:
YEARLY TUITION RATES FOR ARTS AND SCIENCE PROGRAMS
(Province - 1990/91 - 2000/2001 - 2005/2006)
Nova Scotia $1,941 - $4,631 - $6,281
Ontario 1,680 - 4,256 - 5,125*
Alberta 1,286 - 3,907 - 5,125
Saskatchewan 1,545 - 3,668 - 5,062
New Brunswick 1,925 - 3,585 - 5,037
British Columbia 1,808 - 2,592 - 4,874
Prince Edward Island 1,874 - 3,499 - 4,645
Manitoba 1,512 - 3,219 - 3,272
Newfoundland & Labrador 1,344 - 3,373 - 2,606
Quebec 904 - 1,819 - 1,900
*with average 5% increase announced by province this week.

Use your Alberta Oil Bonus for great sound.