Universities across Alberta have experienced huge funding cuts over the last three years. Come fall, students will be paying for that with huge tuition increases (some as high as 104%). But these changes are bigger than just dollars and cents, they beg the question: What is the point of getting a post-secondary education?

Freelance journalist Oumar Salifou reports on the impacts seen in Alberta and host Jesse Brown interviews Alberta’s minister of higher education.

Featured in this episode: Anita Cardinal, law student at the University of Alberta; Reginald Wiebe, assistant professor of English at Concordia University of Edmonton; Dave Lamont, a caretaker at the University of Calgary; Brenda Austin-Smith, president of the Canadian Association of University Teachers; Demetrios Nicolaides, Alberta’s minister of higher education

Further reading:

• Some Alberta post-secondary institutions left relatively unscathed while U of A funds slashed, new data shows, CBC News
• Post-secondary students grapple with increased tuitions as a result of provincial funding cuts to education, The Globe and Mail
• Budget 2021: Post-secondary sees further cuts, 750 job losses, The Calgary Herald
• ‘A turning point:’ After years of cuts, Alberta budget signals growth for U of A, The Edmonton Journal
  
• Alberta universities voice mixed feelings about budget 2022, Global News

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