More Rain on the Tuition Parade Arriving from Canada

Another cautionary tale about self sufficiency and tuition hikes in a political context today, this one from Quebec, courtesy of Inside Higher Ed. McGill decided to raise its MBA tuition from C$1700/year (clearly a subsidized rate) to C$29,500, using a self-sufficient model. [US$1.00 = C$1.02 currently.] As prior posts have noted, the UCLA Anderson School has been pursuing a self sufficiency model. But McGill’s tuition hike is huge compared to anything Anderson is considering, in part because Anderson’s tuition is already in the ballpark of where McGill wants to be.

The Quebec provincial government first threatened to take away an equivalent of the incremental tuition revenue from other subsidies it provides and is reportedly cutting back on aid to MBA students at McGill. (The issue of the take-away of revenue remains in abeyance.)

Inside Higher Ed’s story is at http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/12/22/qt#246578

That story is derived from a newspaper story at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec/mcgill-mba-students-left-out-to-dry-by-tuition-fight/article1845280/

The lesson is that it is important to bring the political powers-that-be into the discussion of tuition or retaliation may occur. With a new governor soon to take office, it would be nice to think that discussions along these lines are taking place. We had a meaningless “compact” with the outgoing governor. Is anyone pursuing a replacement? Regents? Yudof? Just asking.

I may be raining on someone’s parade by presenting the McGill tale, but that may be appropriate given the weather we have been having in LA (and are forecast to have). As they say, into each life, some rain must fall:

UPDATE: Perhaps on a cheerier note, California Watch has estimated that a year at UC-Berkeley (including living expenses) – even with the recent UC tuition increase – will cost less than a year at San Quentin http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/despite-fee-hikes-uc-still-cheaper-prison-7640

UPDATE: Less cheery is this article in the NY Times on a small town in Alabama that has defaulted on its public pension. The article contains a quote from a San Diego official (San Diego has had major pension issues.) The more we see such articles, the more the possibility arises of some kind of California pension ballot initiative that could sweep in UC and override the Regents’ action at their recent December meeting. You can find the article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/business/23prichard.html