In the summer of 2001 the presidents of 28 leading universities and…

Question Answered step-by-step In the summer of 2001 the presidents of 28 leading universities and… In the summer of 2001 the presidents of 28 leadinguniversities and colleges in the United States, includ-ing such august institutions as Yale, Stanford, NotreDame, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),and the University of Chicago, recommitted theirinstitutions to providing need-based financial assis-tance alone. They also endorsed a set of commonstandards for assessing a family’s ability to pay forundergraduate education. In so doing, they in effectcreated a common front against the practice of com-petitive bidding for students. Most important, theyguaranteed that qualified students from the poorestfamilies could have access to the very best in under-graduate education. This continuing commitment toneed-based, as opposed to merit-based, aid is bothcourageous and admirably idealistic.You might ask what the situation is in Ontario,and at the University of Toronto. In fact, we areproud that U of T has made a significant commit-ment to need-based financial student aid. In 1998 theuniversity made a bold guarantee that no studentwould be prevented from coming to our university, orfrom finishing a degree, for want of financial assistance.About three-quarters of the financial support weoffer undergraduates, about $23 million annually, isawarded primarily on the basis of need, and this fig-ure has more than doubled since 1997-1998. What’smore, the university gives entering students an assur-ance that they will not be met with unanticipatedtuition hikes. When there is a gap between an under-graduate’s assessed need and the maximum loanallowed under the Ontario Student Aid Program(OSAP), U of T will cover the shortfall through anon-repayable grant. All of this is possible only because of our own major investment in student aid, the support of government, and the continuing generosity of our friends-especially our alumni and alumnae. Nevertheless, there are still inequities. On the one hand, it is very important that OSAP loans make it. possible for even the poorest students to attend university. However, these same students then may graduate with quite large debts. Fortunately, their numbers are small. Still, it is unfair that students from well-off families graduate debt-free while those whose families struggle financially graduate with OSAP debts as large as $28 000. I should emphasize that the issue here is not tuition. Our tuitions in Ontario are modest when compared with expected income gains due to a university education, or with university tuitions in manyother countries, including our neighbour to thesouth. Further, our tuition in undergraduate arts andscience, corrected for inflation, has actually beendecreasing over the past several years.How do we level the playing field? I believe thatthe entire Ontario university system needs to movetoward a predominantly need-based undergraduatefinancial-aid system. Further, to the extent that weretain merit-based aid, the size of the scholarshipshould be based on financial need. This is already thecase for several programs including the province’sAiming for the Top Scholarships and our ownUniversity of Toronto National Scholarship Program,including the Bank of Montreal scholarships. The cur-rent practice by some Ontario universities of “bidding”for the students with the top high school grades is, atbest, wasteful of our limited resources for financial aid.It would be difficult for any university in Ontarioto make the transition to need-based aid unilaterally.It must happen system-wide. Students should attendthe university that best meets their educational goals,rather than the one that appears to be most advanta-geous financially. I call on my fellow Ontario universitypresidents to join me in emulating the 28 U.S. presidents who have taken a huge step toward levelling the playing field for all students.Answer the question below Image transcription text1. What is Dr. Birgeneau’s thesis and theoretical perspective? 2. What arguments does he present to supporthis thesis? 3. What conflicting viewpoints does he counter? 4. Would you like to see the proposals suggestedby Dr. Birgeneau implemented at all Canadian universities and colleges? Why or why not?… Show more Social Science Sociology SOCIOLOGY 1 1012 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)