private universities: privileged education

A high quality post-secondary system for the wealthy
and an underfunded system for the rest —the end of
accessible education in Canada.

Canada 's existing chartered universities are regulated, publicly-funded,
non-profit institutions. But this is about to change. The Ontario govern-
ment has enacted legislation establishing ‘private’, degree-granting post-
secondary institutions “including for-profit and not-for-profit institutions.’
What is disturbing about this legislation is that for the first time ever in
Canada, privately-owned and operated, for-profit corporations will be
allowed unregulated degree-granting status. Ontario will be a testing
ground for the first two-tiered education system since the establishment
of Canada’s public post-secondary education system. This could mean a
high quality post-secondary system for the wealthy and an underfunded
system for the rest — the end of accessible education in Canada.

The University of Walmart™?

There are two corporations that are vying to be Canada’s first for-profit
universities: The University of Phoenix in Vancouver and Lansbridge
University (formerly Unexus University) in New Brunswick. These institu-
tions are privately owned and operated commercial

enterprises. Phoenix is owned by the Apollo group, Lansbridge by
Learnsoft Corporation of Kanata Ontario. However, “The recent decision
by the Ontario government to endorse the establishment of private secu-
lar universities has been met with predictable outrage from certain
camps.... They claim that education is only a right, not a business for peo-
ple to reap magnificent profits.” Fraser Institute public affairs analyst
Michael Taube, The Globe and Mail, May 11, 2000. Neither are in fact
‘universities ’ because in Canada businesses are not authorized to grant
university degrees. The Harris government will change that.

Why ‘Public’ is Better

Let's look at two important reasons why allowing private companies to
grant degrees is so dangerous: Democratic Control. One of the biggest
concerns for Canada’s academic communities is democratic accountabil-
ity and control over education. Within the post-secondary community
‘democracy’ is understood to mean, among other things, the right to
organize independent student unions, the regulation and reduction of

tuition fees, support for curricula that reflect the cultural and gender
diversity of the Canadian population, opposing corporate influence, an
autonomous student press, equitable admissions standards and repre-
sentative on the Boards of Governors. Under the current public system
some degrees of democratic control are evident in these areas. And
there is a tradition of decision making in the post-secondary sector that
includes faculty, alumni, students, administrators, members of the com-
munity and government. That's because the basic philosophy of a pub-
lic system is that education is a right, not a privilege and it should ben-
efit all members of society. However, this tradition of democratic con-
trol and community decision-making will be seriously threatened with
the introduction of for-profit universities. A for-profit university is owned
and operated by investors, not by all the citizens. In a private business,
decisions are made in secret by a handful of individuals, not by a board
that is democratically elected or appointed.

Cost: Education is not a Business!

The basic purpose of a for-profit business is, by definition, to generate
income for its shareholders. It follows that the basic purpose of a pri-
vate university is ‘return on investment’ or in the words of the Fraser
Institute “to reap magnificent profits.” Since such profits can only be
realised with high user-fees, private universities normally charge outra-
geously high tuition and service fees. For example The University of
Phoenix charges $40,800 for an undergrad degree and up to $20,400
for a grad degree. Lansbridge charges $28,000 for an MBA.

Educating the wealthy...Excluding the Rest

By conservative estimates the total annual cost of a private for-profit
post-secondary degree will be $40,166 or $160,664 for a 4-year
undergraduate degree. This is based on the sum of two figures. The
average tuition fee at US privately-funded institutions is US$15,380.00
or about $23,400.00 in Canadian dollars. Add to this $16,766 —