Maybe I'm part of the problem...but the (original) plan is to go to law school. Tuition's about 20k so when I save for it, I'm aiming for 25k by the time I'm eligible (which is more than generous). I've figured out a plan to save up that much and increase my income every year to adjust for the increases in the costs of living and I have a back-up plan for my back-up plan. So some foresight goes a long way.
I'm not so sure it's the tuition costs, but more the "have my cake and it, too" attitude that my generation seems to have with things. People want good grades and want to party (which is possible if you give up work). But they're not willing to pick and prioritize to make the sacrifice. I gave up a lot of extra-curriculars to work, but I'm not willing to completely give up a social life, so I trained my body to function just as well on less sleep. It just seems that there are so many factors that people CAN control, but they focus on the ones they most likely can't (ie rising tuition fees) just so they can be the victim. I know plenty of people who make it work while making half of the wrong choices (which they admit, too). So all you pretty much have to do to stay afloat is not make too many retarded decisions in your everyday life.
But then again, I'm also thinking it's because of people like me who try to find a way to make it work that the prices go up without enough people complaining?
This is after just over a year. I only make $11/hr at my job, and during school can only work about 8 hours there. On top of that, my rent is $475 a month, plus food for me and my cats. Because of the money, I most likely will not be able to ride next year, which sucks. Oh, and that statement doesn't include the books, which are over $1000
I really hate to put you on the spot, but I feel like this is part of the problem: sure, you might have extracurricular activities and all of that, but if it's the job, then why the hell are you staying somewhere that can only spare you 8 hours a week? I get that some people have pets, but did you not figure that it was an added expense? Why not just leave them with your family if that makes more financial sense? Individual situations (which everyone has to deal with) aside, so many of these students put themselves in the position that they're in.
A lot of students are not able to attend a school in the city of their choice, a lot of students have to attend a school in another city becuase that is the school that offers the program they want or that is the school that accepted them. I could have stayed at home if I went to Mac but I would have been commuting 45 minutes each way every day. Add that to an already busy engineering class schedule and it doesn't really leave a lot of time for a PT job.
Having to live away from home is an unavoidable reality for many students. Now you have rent, food, utilities, etc being added to your expenses athough you likely won't need a car. You're lucky if you can get away with spending less than $600/mo for all that. Now you're on the hook for an extra $7200/yr. I worked 10 hours a week in a parking lot booth making $11/hr. If I were to have worked 20 hours a week I would have failed a few courses and required an extra year of university. But let's say, for the purposes of your argument, that one is able to work 20 hours a week at $12/hr. That works out to about $12,000/yr as you mention which falls about $3000 short of covering a students tuition plus living expenses.
Your point about program availability's a good one. But in the situation that you mentioned, with those numbers, you'd qualify for an on-campus job (and those aren't hard to get at all). I'd even actually say that they hand those out too easily at most universities. I would also say that a car's not necessarily the best option for getting to and from school. Sure, you pay the premium for getting there faster or whatever...but you could also take a bus (which would take longer), but you could study there and back every day (so you're doing something that you would've done anyway). So there's an extra couple thousand dollars in savings. It's cutting it close, but I'm only trying to show that your point's debatable.
I'm definitely willing to concede for the more rigorous programs, but I'd say that more than half of the programs in Uni aren't rigorous (I'm basing it off knowing plenty of people at different unis throughout Ontario in different/same programs and controlling for intelligence/work ethic/etc).
I also lol at how many people stay on res. for all 4 years when it's such a big difference to get roommates that you met in first year and splitting rent with them. I especially have no sympathy for these type of people.
I did my MA at McMaster. They did not cover any of the fees or travel costs I paid out to present at the ASA conference in NYC that year. The uni where I was working on my PhD did not cover any of the fees I paid out to present at UoIndiana. Neither subsidizes fees for belonging to professional affiliations. While I received a scholarship from both universities, the one from McMaster was quite small. The majority of my income came from teaching undergrad seminars. That work was also expected of us. The scholarship from the other university barely covered tuition and book costs. No costs of living, no additional academic type work, etc. I actually had to bow out of a major conference presentation in Oregon because I couldn't afford it, and my institution refused to cover a penny of the costs. Then I bowed out of another major conference in San Fran. It really ****** me off. Especially because you're presenting as a representative of your school and department. The more your face and research is seen, the more interest and outside research funding will come in. You're actually helping your department by presenting, but they don't make it easy for you.
I would definitely admit that post-grad students have more to protest for/have an easier cause to protest for across almost all programs, it seems pretty unreasonable for masters students. From what I understand now, you make x amount of money but a certain amount gets deducted for tuition costs. Then you have the mandatory teaching hours, marking papers, etc.
As a graduate of their engineering program, I can tell you right now that it's a cut-throat environment in there, and I don't see how anybody would be able to work a job that pays enough to cover tuition/books/food/etc., while maintaining the ludicrous workload and pressure that you're put under. Half of the TA's don't speak english and a good 2/3rds of the profs couldn't teach their way out of a paper hat. And I'm not even going to get into how inadequate my high school education was in preparing me for the material being covered in my first year of classes.
From what I've heard/people telling me, U of T's engineering program is pretty damn rigorous. I heard you guys even have rankings? At one of my jobs (one where you can actually study), this guy had to quit to focus on school so I know it has to be that bad. lol
As for the cost of living. We chose to buy a house on the subway in Toronto. One of the main reasons, our kids will have access to three Universities and numerous colleges while living at home. For two kids that will save ~100K in living expenses by the time they go to school. I would rather put 100K into a mortgage than into rent etc. for them near the schools. If they choose to move away for school, they will pay the extra costs (we will pay tuition, books etc. only). Food for thought when buying a house.
Lol you're so fuqed if they end up like most kids and want to go out of town just for the experience
