Olds College is committed to keeping the school’s programs affordable for all students over the long term, says Patrick Machacek.
The vice-president development and strategy at the college, Machacek says newly announced provincial legislation creating a revised tuition framework for post-secondary institutions shouldn’t negatively affect students here.
“Hopefully going forward the legislation doesn’t constrain us too much in providing excellent education experience,” said Machacek. “Olds College is very committed to affordability of our tuition and fees, for both domestic and foreign students.
“In general we are supportive of the government trying to move forward to provide some clarity on how those fees will increase in the years to come.
“On one hand, we would say that affordability of courses is top of mind for the college to make sure we provide great value to our students. At the same time, we also want to make sure we present an excellent educational experience for our students. There is always a balancing act.”
If passed, An Act to Improve the Affordability and Accessibility of Post-Secondary Education would amend the Post-Secondary Learning Act to implement a revised tuition framework.
Under the legislation’s new framework, the minister would be able to regulate tuition and mandatory non-instructional fees.
“Post-secondary education is the key to prosperity, especially in our province’s diversifying economy,” said Marlin Schmidt, minister of advanced education. “But we need to make sure that students can afford to get a good university or college education, and that they have a say in the decisions that affect their education.
“That’s why we did such extensive consultation – we genuinely wanted to hear what Albertans had to say. By empowering our students, we help them get a good education and set our province up for continued success in the future.”
The provincial government has placed a tuition freeze on post-secondary institutions for the past four years.
The new framework would allow the minister to regulate mandatory non-instructional fees and international student tuition.
“We have been asking for these changes for a long time, and we’re happy to see the government addressing students’ concerns regarding the costs of tuition,” said Andrew Bieman, chairman of the Council of Alberta University Students.
“We're looking forward to legislative changes that help support students in the long run, as students are the largest stakeholders in the post-secondary system, and it’s encouraging to know that our voices matter.”
Brandon Vollweiter, Alberta Students’ Executive Council, said: “Affordability has always been a concern of post-secondary students. We are happy the government is moving to ensure a post-secondary education is affordable for all students regardless of where they study in the province.”
Olds College, one of the nation’s top post-secondary agriculture institutions has seen a 10 per cent increase in enrolment in 2018-19 compared with 2017-18, said Machacek.
