Mandeep Mangat was one of only two student designers chosen to participate in Seneca College’s Arts & Fashion Week.

 The collection, Anima Mundi (meaning “The World Soul”) arose from Mandeep’s personal journey of being a vegetarian and spiritual exploration which included attending meditation retreats (often spending 10 days not speaking, reading or writing, and meditating for 10 or more hours each day). Through these experiences, she has come to believe that all sentient beings have within them the potential to achieve self-actualization. Building on this, every self-actualized being is able to empathize with, and live in a symbiotic manner with their environment.

Anima Mundi blurs the line between what is considered animate and inanimate. Microbial bacteria has been grown and dehydrated – serving as a humane, eco-friendly alternative to leather. Hand dyed and felted wool roving creates a gorgeous moss-like texture. Bubbling, sculptural silhouettes, and curving lines portray a sense of movement and transition, all the while captured in stasis. With an in-depth involvement at every stage of the process, Mandeep’s collection translates her personal experiences into lovingly made couture artisan pieces.

 Mandeep grew up in Mississauga, Ontario in a family that stood between two worlds: her family’s eastern values and her own westernized experiences in Canada. Her mother, newly arrived from India, made ends meet by taking on various seamstress roles. Watching her mother work from home, often late into the evening and using spare newspapers for pattern pieces, drove a keen, young Mandeep into an early interest in garment construction. After some coaxing, as a young child, Mandeep helped her mother cut patterns, and sew materials into clothing she would then wear.

Mandeep is, and has always been, someone who lets her imagination run free but approaches tasks in a systematic manner – she found the perfect balance in fashion design. Through Seneca College Mandeep has participated in a number of fashion industry events such as: Fashion Takes Action (2011), and The Interior Design Show (2013). Mandeep also recieved numerous awards from the School of Fashion, specifically the G&S Dye Runner Up (2012), and the School of Fashion Excellence Award (2012 and 2013). Working with such prestigious employers as Phillip Sparks, The Hudson’s Bay Company, and Stormtech Performance Apparel, Mandeep has been privileged to gain invaluable experience and she is excited to launch her career.

Nisarg Bhatt, Humber International Business student

“The faculty is really closely connected with the industry, so there were events set up almost every week. We had a chance to meet and speak with many representatives from companies and organizations. I even met the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty.”

Nisarg’s ambition is to “work in every country I can possibly work in,” laughs the fourth-year International Business degree student. “Ever since I was young, it was my dream to go on a world tour. The idea of getting paid to travel is what got me into International Business.”

Nisarg caught a serious case of the travel bug when he was a teenager, having journeyed from his hometown in Brampton to New Zealand and Qatar when he was 18. Having also visited several cities in theUnited States, he says has no intention of stopping his globe-trotting lifestyle.

“I was looking for the best degree program to help me succeed in my dreams. The International Business program atHumbercaught my attention – I knew it could open doors and give me endless opportunities to work and travel around the world.”

Doing an internship between his third and fourth year gave Nisarg that chance. Although he had multiple offers from firms inCanada, he turned them down in favour of a position inNew York City, where he’s working as a finance manager at Rosenthal Sambonet PadernoUSA, a European manufacturer of high-end tableware.

Nisarg says his training atHumberis serving him well.

“What I learned in my program – the fundamentals, how to communicate with people from different backgrounds, and how to work in a diverse environment – I’m able to take all that and apply it to my current position. The group projects I completed in class also prepared me to be an effective and organized communicator.”

In addition to business training, the networking opportunities provided through the school were invaluable.

 “The faculty is really closely connected with the industry, so there were events set up almost every week. We had a chance to meet and speak with many representatives from companies and organizations. I even met the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty.”

Nisarg is thrilled that he’s had the opportunity to work outside ofCanadaand get a taste of what his life might be like after he graduates.

“This is the best experience I could have gotten,” he says. “I’ll be able to apply the work I’m doing and the skills I’m learning here to anything else I do and anywhere else I go in the future.”

By: Aabida Dhanji

During mid October, York’s Sikh group had their annual Sikhi Awareness Week. This week was dedicated to teaching Sikhs and people of other religions and cultures all about Sikhs. There were many events that took place. They started off with a movie day where they watched a few important Sikhi related documentaries.

On Tuesday they had Langar, which is what they do at Gurudwaras when they serve food and all eat together, sitting on the floor. On this day they also had Gatka, which is like a martial arts/dance.

Wednesday was the Turban Day. On this day the students were tying turbans on to anyone that wanted to get them.

 Thursday was the Keertan, which is a prayer.

Lastly, Friday was volunteering at a soup kitchen.

The week went by well and the Sikhs at York and other communities of York also got a chance to experience the many different observances that the Sikhs have.

It is not difficult to guess that our teens are under tremendous amount of stress not just to be the best in studies but in extracurricular activities also. With fragile economy and statistics after statistics indicating that youth unemployment on the rise, these teens must not follow their hearts in the profession of choice but also consider realities of earning living. On top of that South Asian parents expect these teens to navigate between the two worlds, the world inside the home which is bound by certain traditions, values and culture, and the world at school where these teens struggle to fit in.

In Baltimore, teens were interviewed as part of a study “Confronting Teen Stress, Meeting the Challenge in Baltimore City”, which looked at levels of teen stress. The following is some of the results. Five stressors were:

• school work (68%),
• parents (56%)
• friends’ problems (52%),
• romantic relationships (48%), and
• drugs in the neighborhood (48%)”.

The study also looked at how the teenagers coped with their stress. For boys approximately

• 25% avoided or refused to deal with their stress,
• 23% sought ways to distract themselves away from their stress,
• 17% sought support, and
• 35% actively tried to reduce their stress.

On the other hand, when it came to the girls, approximately

• 19% avoided or refused to deal with their stress,
• 14 % sought ways to distract themselves away from their stress,
• 22% sought support, and
• 45% actively tried to remove or reduce their stress.

In summary, boys more often used the tools of avoidance and distraction while girls looked for support and actively tried to reduce their stress. Girls also said they experienced more stress then boys, stemming largely from their relationships with boys and friendships with girls. Boys attributed their stress to authority figures, (i.e. teachers). The study suggested that stress management programs should separate girls and boys for some of the activities, since their answers were so different. The study also recommended that programs should teach girls and boys how to react in a healthy manner towards stress. Avoidance and aggression can be unhealthy while exercise and keeping a journal concerning your stress are healthy outlets.

More and more cities and school districts are starting to look at teen stress. Some are developing programs for teachers and families to help determine stressful situations and how to teach healthy stress relieving tactics.

Here’re some ways to avoid stress:

• Sleep regularly for at least 10 hours a night
• Eat properly and exercise daily
• Cut the caffeine (it increases stressful feelings)
• Always avoid drugs, tobacco and alcohol
• Finding your own personal and safe way to unwind (hiking, exercising, eating a favorite healthy treat, doing a craft, playing games, working on a puzzle, etc.)

Other teen stress diffusers include

• Relaxation breathing: Take two minutes to breathe slowly in and out, relax your body with each breath, conclude breathing and stand and stretch.
• Listen to relaxing music
• Write in your journal the day’s events. Be detailed as your journal can be a sounding board for your frustrations.
• Pray or read inspirational words
• Meditate

Do something for someone else

At the University of Ottawa, researcher Ross Finnie has been experimenting with a custom-tailored, low-cost statistical model that can identify the students most likely to abandon their studies and offer them help as soon as possible. “This could turn around a lot of lives,” said Dr. Finnie, an economist who studies postsecondary education. “I think the institutions agree they have to be more proactive.”

Governments are pressing institutions to improve student retention as a way of creating a more educated work force, with Ontario’s government pledging to raise the percentage of Ontarians with a postsecondary credential to 70 per cent. Dr. Finnie and research associate Stephen Childs used simple data schools already have to predict which students will be at risk and tested it using an anonymous cohort of students from UOttawa, where graduation rates range from 63 to 99 per cent across various programs. Scrutinizing basic background factors such as whether a student is male and from out of town, they accurately identified 30 per cent of dropouts; tabulating high school marks zeroed in on 35 per cent; and adding first-term marks from university or college correctly tagged 45 per cent of students who left early.

Combining these factors makes the prediction more accurate, and adding answers from a survey asking questions such as “How are you doing?” and “Is your program a good fit for you?” could make the model even stronger. The first school to pilot Dr. Finnie’s model is Hamilton’s Mohawk College, where more than a quarter of students drop out before their second year. The school plans to use Dr. Finnie’s predictions to identify incoming students as either college ready, under-prepared or at risk, and approach them with customized levels of support.

Dalhousie University invites students with average marks below 60 per cent to Back on Track with an e-mail at the start of each term, but the school’s advisers have to wait for students to register low grades. And last fall, only 32 of 343 students contacted accepted the offer.

Some schools are trying their own experiments. The University of Guelph telephones students for informal checkups, and invites first-year students whose marks lag to Bounce Back, a voluntary mentoring program. Those who joined were 10 per cent more likely to stay in school and increased their grade point averages 5 per cent in the following semester, while those who didn’t saw little improvement.

Many Canadian employers are struggling to find the right talent for specific jobs amid a growing skills shortage, says Randstad Canada’s latest Global Workmonitor report released Wednesday. The report described Canada’s growing shortage of highly skilled labour as critical and predicted shortages in the manufacturing, automation and energy and utility industries with Calgary one of the regions experiencing this issue.

Jan Hein Bax, president of Rand-stad Canada, said many businesses are experiencing difficulties finding skilled workers to meet their specific needs. “The demographic shift resulting in retirements, a deepening shortfall of skilled workers and the growing mismatch between the skills needed and those available has evolved into an undeniable skills crisis,” he said.

According to survey respondents, 66 per cent of Canadian employers have trouble finding the right people for specific jobs. And 58 per cent believe Canadian employers are experiencing problems finding highly qualified people. Also, 55 per cent of Canadian employees say they expect a shortage of highly qualified employees within the next three years.

“According to our internal figures, Randstad Canada has seen shortages in the manufacturing, automation and energy and utility industries this year,” said Bax. “And within these three industries, the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal and Calgary regions specifically experienced difficulties finding engineering talent. In terms of roles, draftsmen, mechanical engineers and mechanical designers proved to be the roles that were hardest to fill within the above regions and industries.” 

By Gagan Batra

Brampton

“Applying for courses is the worst.”

“We’re paying so much tuition to the university; we should be able to choose from a number of courses.”

“Set timelines and deadlines.”

“They just want us to read all of the chapters, but half of the information is useless and left out anyway.”

“There are enough food options within the school.”

“I was deregistered out of all of my courses.”

“University could have provided more clubs and activities for us.”

“You’re forced to attend classes on specific days as they won’t be offered on any others.”

“Exams were necessarily fair either.”

Ontario is a major Canadian province with many different educational institutions. While all institutions provide the same basic things, education, degrees or diplomas, credentials, they have differing specialties.McMasterUniversityfor instance is acclaimed for its Health Sciences program, and Ryerson for its Architectural Sciences. When people decide on a specific institution they want to go to, they usually have underlying reasons. However, there are problems too that they may have with their schools of choice that they may not have anticipated.

                Fourth year student fromMcMasterUniversity, Janki Kapadia expressed her disappointment with her institution’s problems associated with registering for courses. “Applying for courses is the worst. You spend five hours trying to do something that should take twenty minutes.” Kapadia explained that the process of choosing courses at McMaster is not only redundant, but extremely inefficient in that the students are consistently shut out of the system and there are unexpected lags they encounter.

                Iman Khan, third year student from Queen’s University, expressed her dislike with the availability of courses at her institution. “I feel that we’re paying so much tuition to the university, we should be able to choose from a number of courses. I ended up taking courses this year not because I was interested in them, but because I had no choice.”

                Second year student fromCarletonUniversity, Neil Khatri, had a different problem with his school. Khatri explained that the problem was not in the courses available to him, but it was in the course work. “My problem is that there aren’t any properly assigned readings at all. They just want us to read all of the chapters, but half of the information is useless and left out anyway. It’s not covered.” While Khatri acknowledges that there is a lot of knowledge to be gained from doing the extensive readings assigned to him, he believes that when they are to be completed in such a short time span, it takes away from his time to study testable material.

                Marietta Mahendran has different problems with her institution. As a second year student at theUniversityofGuelph, she stresses her displeasure with the process by which tuition must be paid. “I went out of the country this summer and returned only a week before classes begun. Due to this I was late handing in papers related to the funding I was supposed to receive early September to pay my tuition. I was unable to pay tuition by the deadline because of this and was put in a tight situation where I was deregistered out of all of my courses.” Mahendran explained that the university did not take any of her extenuating circumstances into account before deregistering her from courses and that policies regarding late tuition payments are very strict.

                Student from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Hardeek Vansia, expressed some of the annoyances he had experienced himself with the timings of his classes. “There aren’t enough sections for given courses so everyone is bunched into one class since they don’t offer any different slots. You’re forced to attend classes on specific days as they won’t be offered on any others. A lot of the time because of this your schedule won’t allow you to have a job. If you have a far commute or if you’re not a morning person, it’s the worst because the lack of time slots available make it difficult to attend courses at times you would find more convenient.”

                Student fromSheridanCollege, Bindya Bhundia, claims that her college is in need of many changes. “I think we need to see more studying spaces, and more cubicles in our quiet rooms. It’d also be great if they could expand our computer lab. Also, I don’t think there are enough food options within the school. They definitely need to have more variety, especially in terms of vegetarian options.”

                Recent graduate from theUniversityofToronto, Mohini Rangunwala, expressed her concerns about a variety of issues. “Tuition for my program was really high. I was doing a co-op program so my tuition was more than twice the regular amount for university programs. Textbooks were also expensive unless you bought them used which wasn’t fair because they usually had past notes in them. I don’t think exams were necessarily fair either, some professors taught differently than others and students were given advantages because of their styles of teaching and examination methods. I think students should collaborate with each other and their professors to get as much information as possible and to help each other out.”

                Tanvi Patel, student from theUniversityofGuelph Humber, described her displeasure with her school in terms of the lack of school spirit. “The school in itself was in a great location, but I found that students would just come to class and then retreat back home. I think it definitely lacked school spirit as opposed to some other universities I’ve seen. There isn’t a lot of effort put into networking students from different programs and I think the university could have provided more clubs and activities for us.”

                Graduate fromYorkUniversity, Neil Singh, gave some tips on how to be successful in university. “It was hard for me, juggling two undergraduate degrees at the same time while doing co-op placement and a part time job, meanwhile trying to maintain a healthy social life. I literally had to schedule my life, even time for playing video games. I’d say that the best thing anyone who wishes to attain higher education can do is to set timelines and deadlines for themselves. I use a whiteboard calendar where I write all of my assignments and can keep track of when my due dates are. I highly suggest others to do this so they can prioritize their time.”

                From speaking with all of these different students from varying institutions, it becomes clear that while colleges and universities do provide people with valuable credentials and education, they are far from perfect. It is by no means easy getting around some of the institutional issues different schools pose, but the best thing to do is to stay focused on the tasks at hand and to try hard to achieve goals by prioritizing.

By Gagan Batra

Brampton

“ … I’m thinking of switching to Bank B because I think Bank A overcharges way too much. If I go over a certain amount of transactions a month, I get charged an amount of money afterwards for each transaction. It’s unrealistic to think that people will only need access to their money a certain number of times each month.”

“ … “I’ve always banked with Bank A since my parents made an account for me there.”

“ … The Rebate Rewards card is especially beneficial because it gives the users a certain percentage of their total spending throughout the year as a rebate, essentially we’re getting free money…”

Technology plays a bigger role in people’s everyday lives now more than it has ever before. People no longer rely on books as sources of information when they have the Internet. They do not need face to face contact with others to communicate as they have texting or email. Interestingly, they are also no longer required to carry cash on their person when they have their bank cards handy.

There are advantages and disadvantages to accessing money through a bank card rather than the paper and coins one would normally carry around with him/her. Firstly, one’s wallet is not weighed down with all of the change that accumulates when they don’t pay for something with the exact amount of cash. Debit and credit cards are more convenient as they allow people to access large sums of money without having to carry it around and worry about losing it. A downside of using a bank card is that they are not accepted at all places, like some many outdoor and campus locations.

                Regardless of whether or not one uses a bank card to make purchases, a large proportion of the Canadian population does still make use of a bank account in some way. Whether they have chequing accounts that provide them with access to their money quickly and securely, or a savings account where they add money to gather interest, bank accounts do serve important purposes.

                In general, students tend to have different reasons for using their bank accounts than do working adults. Bhaven Kapadia, recent graduate fromMcMasterUniversityhas both a savings and a chequing Account. “I never carry cash on me. I think it’s so much easier to just use my card so I put a lot of my money in my chequing account.” Kapadia explained that he uses his savings account very rarely. “I don’t deposit anything into my savings, any time I make a transaction from my chequing account, it automatically gets transferred there.”

                Kajal Briah, second year student at theUniversityofGuelphexplains that she uses mostly her savings account. “I’ve been banking with Bank A for a while because that’s the place my parents started my account when I was younger. I usually just take money out of my savings account and don’t use my debit card all that often.” When asked about the benefits of her banking institution Briah stated, “There aren’t any. I’m thinking of switching to Bank B because I think Bank A overcharges way too much. If I go over a certain amount of transactions a month, I get charged an amount of money afterwards for each transaction. It’s unrealistic to think that people will only need access to their money a certain number of times each month. You can’t put a cap on that.”

                Third year student at the University of Guelph, Harsirat Kaur, talked about the benefits of having a bank account as a student. “I’ve always banked with Bank A since my parents made an account for me there. I have both accounts but I use my chequing way more than my savings.”

Like Kapadia, Kaur explained that having both accounts is beneficial as one can be used for purchases while the other one is used for accumulating interest. “Bank accounts allow students to become more responsible with their spending; they can see what’s going in and what’s coming out,” stated Kaur.

                Kapadia thinks that the credit card system with Bank A is one that is very convenient for students. “You don’t need any sort of income or assets to get a credit card, which is ideal for students. They initially offer a $500 limit, which can be raised if you have good credit. The Rebate Rewards card is especially beneficial because it gives the users a certain percentage of their total spending throughout the year as a rebate, essentially we’re getting free money. I think it helps with students a lot since there are no limits to the number of transactions one can make in any given time, and besides the maximum credit, they don’t need to worry about not having access to a certain amount of money.” Kapadia vouched for the usefulness of the Rebate Rewards Credit Card from Bank A, especially when making one’s initial purchases at school, such as textbooks and furniture.

                Kaur also outlined the advantages of having a credit card from Bank A in terms of them being very flexible. “There are minimum payments that can be made per month which means that students won’t be required to make the whole payments at once. Bank A makes it very easy to manage money. You can use online banking and if you see that your Visa payment is close to being due, you can directly deposit money from your other accounts, all while sitting at home.”

                Asides from the accounts available, Kaur pointed out that there are many locations for this banking institution, and their hours are more flexible than other banks. “Bank A is the only bank I know of that has such great hours. Which other bank is open until eight o’clock and on Sundays?”

                Kapadia explained that although he does not personally bank with Bank B, he understands why many students do. “I know people that switch from Bank A to Bank B just because of the Scene Card. All you get are a couple of points every time you make a transaction going towards free movie tickets and other stuff at the theatres.”

                From the perspectives of these three students, it seems like students stick to the bank accounts they’ve had opened for them by their parents. While most do have a general understanding of how banking with different accounts works, they don’t make active efforts to ensure that they get the quality of service they want.

 Like Briah, some students may be unhappy with their banking situations and not have enough information on how to make the switch, while others like Kaur have actual reasons for sticking to their bank. Either way, the differences in banking policies among different institutions will inevitably have advantages and disadvantages for various people, but it is inarguable that having a bank account as a student is beneficial.

Ryerson University’s Ted Rogers School of Management is expanding its business career centre with new counsellors and social media tools to respond to demand from students and recruiters. With a staff of 16 (including 10 career consultants hired since August) and a new digital app (developed in Ryerson’s digital media innovation hub) that matches students and recruiters, school officials believe they have one of the most advanced career centres at a business school in Canada. This week, (oct 4) the Rogers school held an event to recognize a collective donation of $800,000 from Certified General Accountants Ontario, Sears Canada Inc. and accountants Hogg, Shain and Scheck for the centre’s work. “We are not just a job posting and résumé centre, we are actually a connector between business and students early on in their education,” says Mark Patterson, director of the school’s Careers and Employer Partnerships. The goal, he adds, “is to actually produce graduates who can hit the ground running and deliver on the needs of business.”

The school’s career consultants work with students, starting in first year, to help them assess their personality, past experiences and future ambitions as part of a personal “narrative” for their career. In the process, students identify their strengths and weaknesses, the right mix of courses and potential internships to put them on track for their professional future.

“Students come in with preconceived ideas from different influencers about what they want to do,” says Mr. Patterson. “What we are responsible for is to open their eyes and really expose them to the breadth of career options out there.”

By Gagan Batra

Brampton

“We’re in the same situation here. There were protests on campus taking place last year with regard to the tuition rates and they happen in other places too. I don’t know if that’s why the 30 percent tuition break is now being granted to students, but it would make sense that the government is trying to stop these sorts of demonstrations from taking place.”

Prices for goods are continually fluctuating. As values of certain commodities like oil, diamonds, and gold go up, their prices in the market will increase in response. Certain rates are more volatile than others. Like the gas prices that have been subject to a major hike over these past few years, so have tuition rates of colleges and universities.

Students of postsecondary institutions have much to worry about when financing their education. They have their tuition, rent, food, and textbooks, all of which are not to be considered cheap by any standard. They give tens of thousands of dollars a year to their schools in exchange for their education and credentials. A large chunk of students making these payments do not have any steady income coming their way, either. The government does provide some aid to those who are incapable of supporting themselves through their academic endeavours financially. What will be the result though, when students are unable to respond to the increase in price of their education? Will they risk heavy student loans or working numerous jobs while still in school, or will they reach out to the government to try and prevent the rising costs of tuition?

Just recently the students ofQuebechit the streets and protested over the spring and summer and to their pleasure, the tuition hike was cancelled. While tuition rates anywhere seem high, it is true thatQuebechas some of the lowest tuition rates in all ofCanada, especially when compared withOntario, where the rates are significantly higher. Regardless of the reason for this discrepancy in tuition fees, students ofOntarioand their families are undoubtedly the ones affected by it.

The changing rates inOntariomay not seem too drastic when comparing them over a yearly basis, but overall they are considerably higher than they once were, and arguably will continue to rise.

Students’ opinions about tuition rates seem to vary in some ways. Swapnil Pradhan, third year Management Economics and Finance student at theUniversityofGuelph, believes that tuition rates are unaffordable. “After considering all things, there are initially lots of fees to pay. Residence and off campus living, cell phones, and food are all expenses you have to deal with.” Pradhan believes that funding and grants are all available to students, but overall more effort needs to be put into making tuition affordable to a larger demographic.

Like Pradhan, third year Accounting student from theUniversityofGuelph, Kiran Puri, explained that more can be done to support students who cannot afford post-secondary education. “The 30 percent tuition break was a good first step towards making education more accessible to people, but I think that they can definitely do more.” Puri explains that higher education should be more affordable to a wider demographic since her generation will be the ones entering the workforce in a few years and, “more educated students means that Canada will be in better hands in the future”.

Shwetha Chandrashekhar, fourth year Commerce student at theUniversityofGuelph, shared an interesting point of view about tuition rates differing across provinces. She explained the differences are present because, “Post-secondary education is not standardized so it is not ideal to expect similar tuition rates to that of other universities nationwide.” In this, she explained that the government does not regulate the costs of education on a national scale. In terms of whether or not she thinks that tuition is realistic, Chandrashekhar stated, “Education is becoming a very unaffordable commodity. It will not be feasible for long-term sustainability.” While there are reasons for the cost of education varying acrossCanada, the rates inOntarioare still very high and in some cases unrealistic.

When asked whether or not, in light of the recent protests that had occurred inQuebec, she thinks students inOntariowill resort to similar means, Puri explained that these sorts of things are already happening. “We’re in the same situation here. There were protests on campus taking place last year with regard to the tuition rates and they happen in other places too. I don’t know if that’s why the 30 percent tuition break is now being granted to students, but it would make sense that the government is trying to stop these sorts of demonstrations from taking place.”

Like the university students, Professor Rohatynskyj from the Anthropology department at theUniversityofGuelph, said, “I don’t have very many opinions about them [tuition rates], but I do know that they’re not good.” Although she is employed by the university and not in any way expected to pay fees, Rohatynskyj expressed her displeasure with the rising tuition rates. The reason for this could revolve around the fact that the expenses of attaining an education are rising at such a fast rate that soon a significant portion of the demographic inOntariowill be unable to afford it.

Unlike the alternatives of buying hybrid cars or taking buses to your destination in order to avoid high gas prices, there is no way to avoid paying tuition fees to a school.

The only hopes that students hold on to are receiving scholarships or getting part time jobs to help finance their education. Otherwise, they depend on the government to loan them money which will have interest piled on if it is not paid in the time span given to them after graduation. There is no substitution for education, and for that reason, the cost of it should reflect the capabilities of the larger population, not just one subset.