Free Tuition for Post-Secondary Education

Students in Canada are under increasing financial pressure. Tuitions are rising, and

student loan debts are overwhelming. If Canada were to offer free tuition, it could open new

doors for many Canadians.

Free tuition is a promising option because all Canadians deserve an opportunity to reach

their potential. Charging for education creates an unfair balance in our education system. The

wealthy can afford to buy a higher education, and average Canadians have limited opportunity

due to financial risk.

In 2017, Statistics Canada showed the average cost of an undergraduate degree was

$6,500, representing an increase in tuition costs for twenty-eight years in a row (Alini, 2018).

Statistics Canada also showed that an increasing amount of fees are reaching an average of $880

a year for undergraduates (Alini, 2018). Rising costs are putting more and more financial

pressure on students.

Although some post-secondary costs are subsidized by the government, more could be

done to create equal access to higher education. The government has decreased university

funding by nearly half since 1990. Since then, Canadian universities have almost tripled their

tuition costs (Alini, 2018). If students can’t afford more expensive universities, they might go to

less expensive community colleges, or take technical programs. These institutions charge half the

tuition of universities, and the government pays 62% of the cost (Alini, 2018). But these costs

are still high, and some students decide against higher education to avoid increasing their debt.

Over 20% of graduates who receive a bachelor’s degree finish school with more than $25,000 in

debt (Alini, 2018).

In 1990, Canadians earning a $5 per hour minimum wage needed to work 293 hours to

cover the average tuition cost. Students earning an average of a $13 per hour minimum wage

today, need to work 500 hours to pay their average tuition (Alini, 2018).

Similar to Canada, the U.S. has both a student debt crisis, and problems with college

affordability. President Barack Obama mentioned this in his final State of the Union address.

President Obama says "We've actually got to cut the cost of college. Providing two years of

community college at no cost for every responsible student is one of the best ways to do that, and

I'm going to keep fighting to get that started this year." (Dickler, 2016) In the past, President

Obama has also called to stop student loan interest rate increases, extend the tax credit for

tuition, create more work study jobs, and asked institutions to keep tuitions low (Dickler, 2016).

Taking similar action in Canada to make college affordable could offer equal opportunity for

education.

Charging students for their education can contribute to inequality. The wealthy have an

advantage if they can afford to purchase a better education, and average citizens are less likely to

advance their education if they can’t afford to. All students deserve an equal opportunity to

access higher education. If each Canadian citizen has a chance to reach their potential, then

Canada can have a chance to reach its potential.

Alini, E. (2018, September 1). A vicious cycle: Why tuition is so high and will keep going up.

Global News. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4414387/canada-tuition-college-resp-2018/

Dickler, J. (2016, January 13). Obama: We have to make college affordable. CNBC. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/12/obama-we-have-to-make-college-affordable.html

Steve Webb Metropol

Steve Webb, the CEO and founder of Metropol Industries Incorporated, has

grown a small poster service into one of the largest print shops on Vancouver Island.

Steve built his company in Victoria from the ground up. When Metropol first began, it

earned about $1,200 per month. Today, it earns more than $2,000,000 in revenue per

year. Despite the trend of online printing services, Metropol continues to strive.

Providing direct customer service gives them an advantage over online services that

can’t give a product the same attention to detail.

The company began as Metropol Event Poster Services, when Steve was a

promoter for local nightclubs. Before you could advertise your venue on social media,

poster cylinders in the downtown core were the primary way the clubs advertised. Some

clubs would invest money in covering entire cylinders with a single poster to compete.

With approximately fifteen clubs battling over space, Steve saw an opportunity to offer

the city his services in regulating the poster cylinders. Steve says, “I was going to

approach all of these different nightclubs, and convince them that they should all give

me their poster contracts. I would fight for equal representation on the polls for

everybody.” He would offer everyone equal coverage, and give smaller, all ages venues

an opportunity to get advertised.

The city loved the idea, but a lot of individual promoters didn’t. After four years of

fighting it out, postering on his own downtown, Steve negotiated and got the final two  

contracts on board. This was thirteen years ago, and Metropol hasn’t looked back since.

Postering continues seven days a week, but is the smallest part of the business,

accounting for only six percent of their revenue. After a couple of years Steve

recognized the demand he had for printing posters, and began printing his own. Steve

paid Lucky Bar to use a photocopier they had in the back of the bar. He eventually

purchased his own printer and cutter, and began designing business cards, and stickers

as well. Responding to the demand of his customers, he continued to expand his

services, and hire new staff. Steve says “When we opened our first ground level print

shop in the atrium, that was, I think, the moment where we really took the business to

the next level.”

Metropol expanded to multiple locations, including a shop in the Westshore

where they could accomodate large scale printing, and make signs. Metropol has four

locations with twenty-five employees, including designers, finishers, production staff, a

prepress department, customer service staff, and a postering department. Metropol is

also home to several of the largest printers on Vancouver Island. Steve Says, “We’re on

the verge of moving into one huge facility, amalgamating all of our locations, and we’ll

be bringing a print technology that no one on the island has. So, we’re pretty excited

about the future” Metropol expects to double its staff in the next year.

Metropol has developed from a small postering business, to a respected island

owned and operated printshop. Steve’s instincts to adapt his business to his customers

needs were what built his company into what it is today. With plans to bring the

business into the future with new technology, Steve continues to keep Metropol ahead

of the curve.