P H OTO BY DAR RYL DYC K, E D M O NTO N S U N /C P
A student finishes her mathematics final exam at the University of Alberta. Our post-secondary students, teachers and staff have been
left to fend for themselves thanks to government indifference. Official rhetoric, however, paints a much rosier picture.
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SHE STOOD TREMBLING at the microphone, perhaps
nervous to tell her story to a room full of strangers and
television cameras. “I am in my third year of university and I
already have student loans of over $20,000 and I have $5,000 in
credit card debt. We are not all geniuses, you know. We cannot
all get scholarships. Getting an education should not have to be
this hard.” As she spoke, I realized this young woman was not
nervous. She was angry.
It was 2005, and we were at the first of eight public forums
held that autumn by Public Interest Alberta (PIA). The Alberta
government had begun its year-long review of our postsecondary education system. PIA wanted to cut through the
government rhetoric and reveal the reality. The difference, we
found, was significant.
Gaps between rhetoric and reality are common in any field,
but in the case of post-secondary education in Alberta, the gap
has become a chasm. For years, the provincial government
has claimed to be committed to a top-quality post-secondary
education system. But too many Albertans have experienced
the opposite of that ideal, even though we live in the wealthiest
and fastest-growing province in Canada.
The sad result is that many Albertans are denied the
opportunity to develop their full potential, and the province
is losing out on the opportunity to have the best-educated
citizenry in the country. How did wealthy, privileged Alberta
end up with so much rhetoric and such an unsatisfactory
reality? And what can we do about it?
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“By the time post-secondary students head back in September
2006, Alberta will define a new tuition policy for the 21st century.
It will be the most innovative, entrepreneurial and affordable
tuition policy in the country.”
—PREMIER RALPH KLEIN
February 8, 2005, in a television address to the province.
Alberta’s 2004 election was a turning point for the importance
of post-secondary education as a political issue. The system
was burdened, its stresses and cracks were well-established,
and Albertans had taken notice. Candidates campaigning
for office heard from droves of Albertans about academically
qualified youth who could not find a place in the program of
their choosing; they heard from students overwhelmed with
crushing debt; they heard from voters fed up with this reality.
The government’s review of the post-secondary education
system, “A Learning Alberta,” began in June of 2005 with the
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“Business decisions are far more important, and educational
decisions take a back seat. The crucial question has become, ‘How
can we increase our revenue?’ We have to offer programming that
has little to do with our mandate in order to generate revenue.
But in doing so, we duplicate the diploma programs of other
colleges and fail to meet our mandate in the process.”
—COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR, Calgary
Throughout the 1990s, Alberta eliminated its deficits by cutting
back on social programs, cuts that significantly affected postsecondary education. While the economy was growing rapidly,
core government funding to post-secondary institutions was
reduced by 24 per cent between 1993 and 2003. The cuts took
place during a period of 18 per cent enrolment growth, which
further compounded the strain on the system.
People at our forums described in detail the effects of the cuts.
Deferred maintenance costs and reductions in non-academic
staffing were of particular concern. One forum participant
noted that the University of Calgary, given its size, should have
at least 30 electricians, but it employs only eight. NAIT is so
stretched for space that many technical programs are taught at
inadequate facilities with outdated equipment. Administrative
staff have been cut back in so many departments that the stressleave rate has skyrocketed. Faculty spend more and more of
their time on administrative work rather than on teaching and
research.
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“I am a single mom needing to work two jobs in order to afford
to go to college. There are too many people who cannot afford to
go to college.”—STUDENT, Red Deer
The funding cuts have also had a huge impact on affordability.
Tuition in Alberta has more than tripled since 1991/92,
increasing more sharply than in any other province. The
average undergraduate tuition at Alberta universities is $4,940
(based on 2004/05 levels), the second-highest provincial
average in Canada. In a 2003 government survey, only 50 per
cent of respondents said they believe post-secondary education
is within the means of most Albertans. Students most often
cite financial concerns as the main reason they drop out, delay
their studies or avoid post-secondary institutions altogether.
The average debt of university students upon graduation is
now more than $20,000; for college graduates it is $12,000.
As you might expect, we heard about these problems loud
and clear at our forums. Students described working 20 to
30 hours a week to put themselves through school. Faculty
explained that many of their students are just not able to keep
up because of their jobs. The situation is even more complicated
in cities like Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray, where student
housing is scarce and renters pay over $1,400 a month for onebedroom apartments. An applicant can be denied a student
loan on the basis of having an asset such as a car. But for many
people in rural Alberta, a vehicle is the only means of getting
to college.
Perhaps most revealing is the fact that three universities
and a number of colleges operate food banks. The University
of Alberta food bank director told us usage of the service has
grown each year since it started in 1991, and it currently serves
over 2,300 people.
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“We graduate many fine people from our high schools, and they
simply can’t get into post-secondary education, despite the fact
that they are well qualified. We have students returning to do
academic upgrading even though they have 80 per cent averages.
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P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F P U B L I C I N T E R E S T A L B E R TA
establishment of a 17-member committee. Unlike the Learning
Commission created in 2003 to review K–12 education, this
committee did not host open public meetings. It limited itself
to private consultations with invited stakeholders. Albertans
were invited to respond in writing over the summer months;
this process was later expanded to include an online service
that accepted comments until the end of October. The whole
process culminated in an invitation-only conference in
Edmonton on November 1 and 2, after which the committee
released a series of lengthy and complex documents that
painted a rosy picture.
Members of PIA’s post-secondary education task force
were deeply concerned with the review process. The Learning
Alberta review committee had almost no representation from
students, faculty or non-academic staff. The government documents reflected an unwillingness to look at the serious problems
caused by years of underfunding. Finally, it seemed obvious
that a review of this importance had to be open to the public.
So PIA co-ordinated a campaign to hear complaints and
suggestions directly from the people involved. We distributed
20,000 copies of a background document, “Post-Secondary
Education Reality Check,” and set up an online process by
which people could grade the government on four key issues
(funding, affordability, accessibility and quality) and provide
suggestions. We also hosted eight public forums around the
province to explore the current state of funding, affordability,
access to the system, and quality. The forums were held at Red
Deer College, Olds College, the University of Calgary, the
University of Alberta, the University of Lethbridge, Keyano
College in Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie Regional College
and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).
Hearing from so many concerned, committed individuals was
a compelling learning experience. What we heard was often in
stark contrast to the government rhetoric.
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When they do get into transfer programs in colleges, too often
they then can’t get into the university.”
—HIGH SCHOOL TEACHER, Olds
have skyrocketed, meaning that students rarely get to discuss
problems with their professors, and multiple-choice testing
has replaced more meaningful essay examinations. With the
increasing privatization of services and the cuts to libraries and
non-academic staff, the quality of the educational experience
has declined in Alberta.
At our forums, we encountered a lot of concern for
institutions’ ability to maintain quality. At technical institutes,
people expressed worries about being able to attract faculty
when salaries cannot keep pace with the private sector.
Students talked about the challenges of learning their trades
with outdated equipment. We learned that Olds College
had sold the 120 horses from their equine program, forcing
students to rent horses privately or bring their own. We heard
how the privatization of cleaning and other services can result
in poor maintenance and dirty facilities. Counselling and other
means to ease pressures of education have been so cut back
that many students are falling through the cracks. Educational
institutions used to provide on-campus child care centres, but
these sorts of important services were the first to go with the
funding and space squeeze.
Funding and affordability have restricted who can get into
the system. Many well-qualified students are turned away
because they cannot find a space. At all institutions, academic
requirements have grown stricter. In 1987/88, the minimum
average grade necessary for admission to arts and science
programs at the University of Calgary was 60 per cent. By
2001/02, the minimum requirement was 70 per cent. The lack
of spaces, however, has meant that the score needed to get in is
actually much higher. In 2004, the average mark for first-time
applicants admitted to the University of Alberta was 83.2 per
cent. As a result, Alberta has the lowest university participation
rate in the country, at 15.8 per cent.
Time after time, we heard what this means to those who
have tried to get an education in Alberta. In many of the rural
communities, students enter fields they do not really want to
study, while others do not even try to get into post-secondary
schools at all. Faculty representatives from NAIT stated that
many programs turn away five applicants for every one that
gets in. A mother told us her
daughter had done very well at
Red Deer College, yet was not
able to transfer into the education faculty at the University
of Alberta. “My daughter would
make an excellent teacher, but
the system is so overcrowded
that she will not be able to Concerned parties speak out at Public Interest Alberta’s 2005 post-secondary education forums.
pursue her dream.” At Olds, the
high-school principal said, “I have been tracking what happens
to our graduates for over 10 years now, and there was only one
year where more than 50 per cent of students went on to any
form of post-secondary education.”
“What started out as the premier’s clear commitment to students
ended up as an exercise in semantics. If they ever truly meant
to keep that initial promise of instituting the most affordable
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tuition policy in the country, this government must reject the
disappointingly minimalist language that has grown more and
“There have been cuts to many programs and it is hard to attract
more prevalent and deliver real, tangible relief through an actual
qualified staff to the college because of it. We cannot even get a
and substantial rollback of tuition.”
violin instructor to come here for our fine arts program. This has
—SAMANTHA POWER, President, University of Alberta
an impact on quality of life for the whole community when fine
Students’ Union
arts students have to leave the community to get the education
they need.”
The actual results of the government’s review of post-secondary
—PARENT , Grande Prairie
education have yet to be determined, although committees have
met and reports have been duly filed. After the ministers’ forum
The quality of our post-secondary education system is very
in November 2005, three subcommittees were established:
hard to measure. Certainly, many dedicated and innovative
the Foundational Learning & Diversity Subcommittee,
faculty members are committed to providing a good education
which examined the learning needs of adults who are underto their students while maintaining their own research
represented in post-secondary education (recent immigrants,
interests. But the ratio of full-time students to faculty has
persons with disabilities, and adults with low literacy skills);
the First Nations, Métis & Inuit Learning Access and Success
increased from 17.2 students per teacher in 1992 to 21.8 in
2001. Particularly in first- and second-year courses, class sizes
Subcommittee; and the Transforming the Advanced Education
P H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F P U B L I C I N T E R E S T A L B E R TA
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the whole question of affordability is addressed, students and
their families will continue to face huge debt loads and continue
to work their part-time jobs of 15 to 25 hours a week while
struggling to keep up with their studies. As one student at the
Lethbridge forum said, “70 per cent of students are working.
This is one of the main reasons the government can claim that
student loans are not increasing. The loan board also reduces the
amount they give [employed] students or disqualifies them from
receiving any loans.”
On the question of access, the government announced last
year that they would be increasing the number of students
by 5,000 per year, thus raising it 15,000 over three years and
30,000 in six. It’s good that the government is committed to
expanding the system, but will this really meet the needs of a
rapidly growing population and economy? To put these figures
in context, the number of full-time equivalent spots increased
by 15,000 from 2002 to 2005. So, in effect, the government
has promised to bring in students at the same rate as in the
previous three years.
Furthermore, how the system will be expanded has yet to
be clarified. Will these be full-time students or part-time? Will
rural communities get improved access? Ultimately
the question comes down to this: will qualified
Albertans continue to be turned away from the
programs that will help them fulfill their dreams—
and the province’s needs?
On the issue of quality, the government has offered
little more than vague commitments to improve the
system. Of course, the massive infrastructure debt
will continue to have a big impact on the quality of
Forum participants included students, teachers, parents and campus workers.
the system. At our forums, various people who work
in post-secondary institutions said it is not uncommon to walk
its promise of the most affordable tuition in Canada. Instead, in
down the hall and see buckets collecting rain water. A quality
the final days of the spring sitting of the legislature, it rammed
education system also requires excellent staff and faculty, with
through Bill 40, a regressive measure that actually removed
the necessary support to enable them to do their important
tuition cap policy from legislation, making it a simple decision
work.
of cabinet to be determined behind closed doors.
Advanced Education Minister Denis Herard assured students
The staff cuts of the 1990s mean that many institutions still
don’t have enough people for the current system, let alone
that they need not worry about this removal of the legislative
an expanded student population. In 2002, a government
protection, claiming he will consult them before establishing
committee published recommendations on how to attract and
any new policy.
retain more faculty, but those have gone largely disregarded.
But students were never consulted on Bill 40 in the first
Many of the technical institutes in particular are having a
place—an irony that isn’t lost on them. They have deep and
tough time getting instructors, as the private sector is often
legitimate concerns about what this minister—or any future
paying significantly more to keep skilled tradespeople in the
minister under a new premier—will decide in the absolute
field.
privacy of cabinet chambers.
So now, 18 months later, instead of being squarely on the
In a further backward step, the recommendation that has
road to a first-rate post-secondary system in Alberta, we
come out of the Learning Alberta process is to set tuition rates
find ourselves in a quandary. We have remarkable resource
at 2004 levels and have them increase annually according to
revenues, huge budget surpluses, clearly demonstrated needs—
the consumer price index. One doesn’t need a business degree
and a future that will depend on an improved post-secondary
to recognize the plan’s major flaw: if tuition rates were already
education system. We need more than rhetoric from our
considered too expensive in 2004, it defies logic to see how this
government. #
could possibly give us the “most affordable tuition policy in
the country.”
Bill Moore-Kilgannon is the executive director of Public Interest
Recommendations to change student loan regulations and
Alberta, a non-partisan provincial advocacy organization.
to lower interest rates are certainly long overdue, but unless
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P H OTO F R O M I STO C K P H OTO
System Subcommittee. Each produced its own report and set of
recommendations. A final report from the full Learning Alberta
Steering Committee was released in May 2006.
The subcommittee members deserve thanks for their
dedication, time and commitment. They produced a number
of recommendations that, if implemented by the government,
really will help make education more accessible for Aboriginal
people, people with disabilities, immigrants and adults with low
literacy skills. The actual results, however, remain to be seen.
As for funding, in its 2006 budget the government announced
increases of 6 per cent a year for three years. This does not come
close to addressing the years of operating deficits and deferred
maintenance costs. The hard reality is that many of Alberta’s
post-secondary institutions are looking at deficits again next
year. The new “Access to the Future Endowment Fund,” which
currently consists of $750-million, will help pay for some new
and innovative projects, but the portion of the fund available
to be used in its first year will not even cover the commitments
announced for that period.
On the question of affordability, the reality is even more
disturbing. The government has not created a policy to fulfill