University tuition rates are reaching ridiculous levels in Canada. Currently for regulated programs tutition is at about $2000 per term; for unregulated programs tuition is at about $4000 per term! This is just what the student has to pay, the government subsidises education cost, paying more then 60% of the actual cost of attending university. Now compared to the United States where tuition cost some ridiculous $10,000+ per term (paid entierly by the studend) we're not doing too bad here in Canada. But really a decent education cost $20,000 a year -with two hundred people in some classes it cost four hundred thousand dollars to rent out a room and have someone to talk for 3 hour a week (for a total of about 40 hours of class that comes to about ten tousand dollars per hour for the teacher, the room, and administartion). Because after a hundred plus years in a capitalist, free market society, compitition has driven education costs to be as low as possible without comprimising quality. Right?

In capitalist society buisnesses are suposed to compete; the company that is most efficient, has the lowest cost structure, and provideds the best quality of product or service will prevail. The obvious question is why in such and 'efficent' society does it cost ten thousand dollars and hour to educate someone. People keep turning the issuse of high tuition rates to the government, asking them to freeze tuition and furthar subsidize higher education; but realilisticly limiting people's freedom and randomly throughing money around is not the best solution to a problem. The solution to this problem is more likely to be found by inquiring as to the nature of the break down of the capitalist system, and of compitition. the bottom line is that universities can be run much more efficiently, people can be educated for thousands not tens or hundreds of thousdands, and there is no excuse to charge anymore.

So what is the break down? Why hasn't competition force our education institutions to maximize efficience and quality, while minimize cost. The problem: it is because there is no compitition. The estblished education institutions hold a monopoly -a monopoly over credibility. In my time at university I've heard on several ocasions people say that they are at university not to get an education, but to get credibility. And it is true that most buisness will not higher people from a university that no one has ever heard of, and they would be very hesitant to higher someone with a degree from a university that is only a few years old; furtharmore, to this effect, people would not be willing to pay to attend such an institution because it offers no credibility. The solution: creat competition by removing the monopoly. The involvemment the government should has is as a regulatory institution that gives acredditation to the education recieved by a university. By seperating the educating and testing process the educating process can be made as efficient as possible, while the dergree is issued by a single institution (owned and operated on an at cost basis by the government), and thus all degrees will have equal credibility.