Failure to see the big picture
So today the University of Waterloo sent one of those emails (you know them, the carefully-worded ones), saying how they had voted to increase international tuition fees by 9% (again), meaning a hike of well over $1,000 for everyone. Now back-of-the-envelope math shows that we have about 6,400 international students here, translating to at least an extra $6M in tuition fees alone each semester. But really, the question here is not monetary, but it’s one of the value.
I think we are entitled to ask whether there will be a similar increase in tuition quality, student services or something to justify this hike. To live the UW experience is bittersweet — akin to eating a lollipop only to discover a leaden core. Walking around campus, you are constantly reminded of the glowing reputation of the degree you are obtaining, only to be greeted with a massive class size and enormous workload quite unlike anything you may have ever experienced before. You are swiftly told you can make tuition back via co-op earnings, but make sure you see the fine-print that you also have overhead expenses and moving costs that most people won’t have (“Of course, I can just work in Sauga so I can live at home…oh wait.”).
The opportunity cost of going to school in Waterloo, ON at the University of Waterloo for an international student is actually quite high. Most of us won’t be granted a study permit if our grades are sub-par and/or there is no demonstrable significant financial backing from a benefactor. In some places, the visa process is long, exhausting and nerve-wracking. (Also, CIC outsourced the customer service hassle to a contract with the good, old, faceless chums at VFS Global.) At this point, the opportunity cost of attending uWaterloo is enduring this process for UW instead of McMaster, UofT, McGill, UBC and “other” institutions. Most non-Canadians (and some non-Ontarians too) I know can’t place KW on a map: “Oh, just an hour from Toronto”, “Think like halfway between Toronto and London”, is our usual response to “Where’s that?”. I should also point out that flights don’t exactly come pouring into our tiny airport, so just getting here is hard enough.
While UW has a glowing reputation in Canada (“top comprehensive for the 10,000th year…”, etc), outside the country, it isn’t in the same neighbourhood as older institutions with more international alumni such as McGill, UBC and — I hate to say it — UofT*. Outside STEM, we’re talking of a Humanities department without an African Studies program and an obvious lack of a business or medical school. While there are reasons for all these, I’m only stating the facts — it is that all the schools we consider before coming here are more established and have greater infrastructure. UW is meant to be a world-class institution, but the international student’s office is not a standalone unit but hidden within the ‘Student Success Office’.
There is a great community at this school, some truly gifted and wonderful faculty and critically, an empowering entrepreneurial and real-world focus in our culture not found anywhere else. I have loved my time here, and do not think I could have mirrored this experience elsewhere. However, these great traits do not absolve the administration from raising tuition fees at 7x the rate of inflation twice in 3 years. It’s hard to see where the commensurate value increase truly lies.
*Did not compare to American schools for an apples-to-apples analysis re the visa process.
