Part-time studies are in a crisis throughout Canada. Mature students once comprised the bulk of part-time membership. Over the last 10 years, mature student enrolment in university declined nationally by 18 per cent and provincially by more than 31 per cent, accodring to Statistics Canada. The most significant drop is in the enrolment of women over the age of 35-there are 17,000 fewer today than in 1992.
Education is one of the most important equalizing factors in our society. The ever-increasing drop in part-time student enrolment must be addressed by policy-makers at this university, and nationally through university administration lobby bodies such as the Association of Universities and Colleges in Canada.
However, there has been no concerted effort to redress declining enrolment. Instead, universities are overlooking the crisis in mature student enrollment. At U of T, this is seen through the refusal to address day-to-day barriers that part-time students face, such as housing, the lack of affordable daycare spaces, inadequate evening course selection, exclusion from financial aid policies, and the lack of adequate evening study space.
The university administration’s redefinition of part-time student status and the elimination of the three-year degree have created further barriers for students. Studenst enrolled in three credits worth of courses will be both surprised and angered to find in their financial invoice increased incidental fees. Some of these increased student fees will cost students up to $500 more a year to attend university.
While the university flaunts its handling of the first few weeks of the double cohort, I must ask what the administration will do to protect part-time study here. What policies will be implemented? How will they retain, if not expand, access points for students from non-traditional backgrounds? In the last decade there has been no clear and concise statement on the importance of part-time study made by U of T, which once had the highest level of part-time enrolment in Canada. Instead, numbers are further reduced and students are choosing not to attend universities because they cannot afford school and they cannot receive a post-secondary education that caters to their needs.
While I am critical of the university’s commitment to part-time study, I believe this can be redressed through the development of a concerted strategy to expand part-time and mature student enrolment. This would include the following:
*Expand points of access. U of T should expand participation levels of the Academic Bridging Program. Last year budget cuts of 30 per cent were leveled at this important program. Cuts should be reversed and this program should be expanded on the downtown campus. Pilot projects should also be established at UTM and UTSC.
*Include part-time students under the university financial aid guarantee. Last year research by the Association of Part Time Undergraduate Students showed that U of T owed part-time students more than $5 million in financial aid monies that we have paid to the university over the last five years. It’s time that part-time students are paid back the money that they deserve.
*Expand the transitional year program (a very successful access program at U of T) with satellite programs at both UTSC and UTM. Develop an access program for students to access professional programs such as law for students who are coming from disadvantaged communities.
*Support government efforts to establish a universal daycare system.
*Increase part-time student enrolment in professional faculties such as law and engineering.
*Reinstate the three year degree. U of T is in a strategic position to take a much needed leadership role on the issue of part-time studies particularly in halting further decline in enrolment rates of mature students. U of T must understand the importance of part-time studies. The same efforts which U of T spends on promoting its research, its fundraising, and its facilities as a world class institution must be invested into its diversity of students-particularly the wealth of life experiences that mature and part-time students bring to the university community.
Chris Ramsaroop is the president of the Association of Part Time Undergraduate Students and a part time representative on Governing Council.
