After years of government underfunding, access to high quality post-secondary education is at risk.
That is why it is Our Time to Act.
Federal transfers for post-secondary education are almost 40 per cent less per student now than they were twenty-five years ago. Thirty years ago, universities received more than 80 per cent of their operating revenue from governments. Today, government funding has shrunk to barely 50 per cent.
Tuition fees at Canadian universities have increased by three times the rate of inflation since 1990. In the same period, average student debt has grown 40 per cent while average real wages have stagnated.
More than half of undergraduate university courses in Ontario are now being taught by contract faculty, while half of all post-secondary workers in Ontario have some elements of precarity in their job.
It’s time for the federal government to be a real partner in post-secondary education again.
Find out what can be done and find out what you can do about it below!
For more information, contact postsecondary@cupe.ca
