Researchers from a Quebec institute are suggesting that the Quebec government take advantage of the increase in its revenues to introduce free education in the post-secondary sector.
In its study published on Wednesday, the Institute for Socio-Economic Research and Information (IRIS) claims that the indexation of tuition fees no longer has its place as a method of financing universities.
The authors of the study calculated that free education in Quebec would cost $1.2 billion, which, they point out, represents less than 0.009% of the total expenditures of the Quebec budget.
Samuel Élie-Lesage, associate researcher at IRIS and co-author of the study, asserts that not only is free education financially viable, but that high fees and the prospect of going into debt have an aversion effect that discourages future students to continue their studies, especially the less well-off.
In addition, the need for students to repay their debts can lead many to favor jobs where the income is the highest, regardless of their true social utility.
The Institute for Socio-Economic Research and Information reports that free education or low fees are already the norm in several countries, including France, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
Éric Martin, another co-author of the study, invites us to break with the belief in public discourse that indexing is a reasonable compromise. He recalls that Germany adopted in 2013 the abolition of tuition fees to counter the financial precariousness of people studying. Meanwhile, Mr. Martin noted that in the United States, tuition fees have increased by about 500% since 1985 and that student debt has exploded.
On the other hand, Éric Martin thinks that universities do not need to be injected with ever more resources in order to face up to international competition. This is, in his opinion, a conception that serves to legitimize the increase in tuition fees under the pretext of underfunding.