“If I could study in Montreal, I would! »
CEGEP registration season is approaching and my nephew is considering his options. He will probably stay in his region, not too far from home. The metropolis attracts him, but it is impossible to reconcile with a young student’s budget…
My heart broke hearing him say that. This is because I had no counter-argument to offer him. These days, I see 3 and a half in semi-basements going for over $1300 per month. Although he has worked for a long time, saved money and can count on a family who has put money aside for his higher education, my nephew knows that it would not be reasonable to move to Montreal.
For others, it’s not even a feasible option.
At his age, I had much less means than him, yet I packed my boxes to establish myself in the big city. At 17, I shared $600 rent with two roommates, ate a lot of tuna noodles, and was happy. Loans and grants were my best friends. Resourcefulness, my faithful companion. It wasn’t perfect, but I could make this city my own with a few compromises. (What teen likes to wear winter boots anyway?)
I would like to tell my nephew that with a little budgetary creativity, the CEGEPs in the metropolis would also be accessible to him, but in reality, it is much more complicated than that…
In its ECLAIR survey, the Work Unit for the Implementation of Student Housing (UTILE) indicates “that in addition to having suffered a rent increase of 20% in two years, nearly 50% of the 171,200 student tenants in Montreal have an annual income of less than $20,000.”
Laurent Levesque, co-founder and general director of UTILE, was heartbroken, but in no way surprised by the family situation that I described to him: “For several years we have been emphasizing that housing costs have become a greater A barrier to higher education than tuition fees… It is increasing everywhere, but particularly in Montreal and in a handful of other cities like Gatineau. We see that students are working more, taking on more debt, living further from their campus and crowding into smaller accommodation in greater numbers. »
In this regard, the ECLAIR survey reveals that 7% of studios and 8% of 2 and a half rooms in which respondents live are occupied by three or more roommates. That’s a lot of proximity… And if I write about Montreal, you should know that many other student cities are dealing with serious problems. In Rimouski, for example, there is a complete lack of housing, Laurent Levesque tells me.
UTILE is therefore working on a solution: non-profit student housing. The organization already has 600 (built or in the process of being built) in Montreal, Quebec and Trois-Rivières. Several projects are in development in other university towns; However, its affordable units are very popular, and demand exceeds supply.
If Laurent Levesque recognizes that several municipalities are seeking solutions to the unfolding crisis by supporting UTILE in particular, he remains convinced that we must accelerate student housing projects.
Many Quebec families are wondering: “should I send my child to Montreal?” The context disadvantages families in the regions, there is an equity issue there… It could have an impact on the education of a generation.
Laurent Levesque, co-founder and general director of UTILE
There are good study programs everywhere in Quebec, of course. On the other hand, certain specialized programs are only offered in certain cities. And on a personal level, I don’t know if I could have found myself elsewhere so quickly… I remember my first day at Maisonneuve college. While I had experienced a very stimulating secondary school, but in a fundamentally homogeneous environment, I discovered classrooms filled with eccentrics, artists, queer people, young adults wanting to express their identity, to deploy themselves .
A party I had long waited to attend.
I could finally abandon myself to the anonymity specific to big cities – that which allows individuals to show themselves as they are – while taking advantage of a huge population base to choose my community… I had been dreaming of Montreal since years and yet I had underestimated him. It has also just been ranked 13e rank of the best student cities in the world, in the annual survey by the British organization Quacquarelli Symonds.
Note that it is a particularly interesting option for foreign students, since living there may be expensive, it remains more affordable than in many other metropolises. Montreal is located at 135e rank among the most expensive municipalities, according to Mercer. Nothing comparable with Paris (at 35e rank), for example… But is it still accessible to young Quebecers who are not lucky enough to have a loved one to accommodate them there?
We have more and more reasons to doubt it.
Knowing that Montreal is calling on students who will have to do without it because of the price of housing worries me. What happens to a city when it can only accommodate young people who are better off than the average? The narrowness of the possibilities has always made me dizzy. Today, I think of an entire generation with tight chest. And my Montreal hurts.