FREE TUITION

A journal.

Getting into my mom’s slightly beat up 2001 Honda Civic, I let out a long awaited breath that I had been holding for a while, the long events of the day finally wearing me down. After mumbling through a small series of questions about how work was I opened my phone and the lock screen read 9:13 pm. The little light flashing blue on the corner of my phone piqued my curiosity. A message? I wasn’t an avid texter so I thought back to who it could be. Maybe a friend asking about homework, my sister asking me to get her a snack from work or even just my phone company messaging me about the latest promotion. Nevertheless I unlocked my phone, the message from my best friend popped up, highlighted by the yellow text box and written in all caps.

It read: “ERIKA DID YOU HEAR?” a burst of anxiety filled me before my eyes as I scanned the next text “TUITON IS FREE IN THE SCHOOL YEAR OF 2016-2017 IF YOUR FAMILY MAKES LESS THAN 50,000 A YEAR!!!” I squealed in my seat while I did a little dance before getting questioning stares from my mother on my left. We pulled up to the house and I explained the news to her that I might get the chance to go to university basically for free. When I told her this she gave me a skeptical look but still encouraged my good mood as we planned out what I wanted to do with my life.

“The government will give me the money for sure, I mean you don’t make more than 50,000 so that means I could move away if I wanted to right?” I said.

“Yeah but is it for everyone? How do they decide who gets the money or not? What about those who get paid over 50,000?” she said.

I quickly took back my excitement and started to contemplate what this would mean for my community and me as a young adult. To the people this sounded like a great idea, but for how long? Eventually, the money needed to fund these schools will no longer be supported by the millions of middle class people who are trying to pay off loans. What would happen to those that went to school prior to this? Some serious questions still needed to be answered.

With this information in mind, I went to school the next day and told my friends the good news. After school, my friends and I were on the bus headed home. We took our seats at the back, taking up two rows of seats. It seemed fitting that this rule was coming out during our senior year, so I predicted that they would be over the moon. Some were overjoyed with this information but others were jealous and angry over the fact it didn’t cater to all families.

“I hear they’re grants and you have to apply for them. How do I even know if I’m going to get one? Do you know how many people have low-income in Canada?” one cried anxiously.

“My parents make over 60,000 altogether but I have two other sibling who are both in college or university, how about me?” stressed another.

“No” one of them corrected “I heard if your parents make less than 80,000 then you only have to pay half”

“Still not fair, what about me and my siblings? Why are we in debt?” my friend argued.

“Excuse me” I interrupted, “But at least your parents can afford some of your tuition and you want to be a doctor. You’ll pay it off in no time. At least now I can explore an arts degree and not have to be in debt until I’m 60.” Huffing, I had to stop myself before I got too worked up again.

My friend look appalled and after my burst out an awkward silence washed over the group. I felt guilty but it needed to be said. Obviously this wasn’t the first time any of us had had this conversation, in fact I’ve heard this conversation years before when my sister was applying. She was stressing over the fact that if she chose the wrong path and ended up regretting her field, her mistake would cost her over 8 grand, not to mention if she wanted to move away and branch out. That’s money no one had, for me it was just money out of the pockets of a family with only one income, and more bills in the mail than actual letters from loved ones.

There were times when I hung out with friends and we contemplated if it was even worth it to spend conspicuous amounts of money if we weren’t sure it was going to take us anywhere. Or being afraid to go for what we wanted or achieve our dreams because our parents had warned us that it had consequences in the form of dollar signs and check books. Sure we still had to be “realistic” and “practical” but at least there was no more stress for those who thought they weren’t good enough to go to school, or just didn’t have the money to afford education.

Throughout the past few weeks, this phenomenon has spread to the public and to my school little by little. In the halls I hear most of the student riled up about this and even questioning the authenticity of this information and whether or not it was even real. Names such as ‘Kathleen Wynne’ and ‘The Liberals’ being tossed around on the news and in the mouths of my peers. Imagining a world with these opportunities was unpredictable and made my stomach churn. However it made me think back to a conversation I had with my grandma a while back before entering my final year.

We were sat down at her kitchen table, everything at the time was mostly dark brown oak, a theme that resonated throughout the entire household. We maintained minimum chatter about the weather and what was good on TV until she brought up how it was like to live in the Philippines as a kid. She even went on to tell me how hard it was for her to get an education growing up and the struggles she faced.

“I never finished high school because I had to take care of my younger siblings” she’d said with a sad smile, “That’s why you going to school is important, so you don’t end up working in a factory until you retire, like me.”

Thinking back to when I was a little girl and all those times she nagged me about reading her a story, or interrogating me non-stop until I told her what I did at school, made me realize how fortunate I am. I know I’ll never understand or even face things that compare to what my relatives have been through but these grants are just another thing that will hopefully improve our society for the better. Education in any form is so important and to deny someone their right to learn over something as trivial as money is an injustice that will soon come to an end. The real question is whether it will be stopped for good.

#originalwork #coursework