Huge Tuition Cut for Ontario Students!

Are you kidding me? Is it really true - the news coming out of Toronto yesterday? Politicians living up to their election campaign promises?
It is true! And it is some unbelievably great news for post-secondary students in the Province of Ontario. The Liberal Government of Dalton McGuinty - which controls tuition fees at colleges and universities - has cut tuition fees by 30% effective January 1st 2012!  That's right - 30%! Fulltime students with family incomes less than $160,000 are eligible for the tuition cut - which will save University students about $1600 a year and college students around $730.
The move will cost the government $200 million in income and there's no word yet on how they'll make that up. However, less expensive education means more students can get the training they want and need to begin good careers - making them taxpayers, and consumers, and eventually homeowners, etc. It might be short-term pain for the government with the lost revenue, but it will definitely be long-term gain in a lot of ways.
There's also the issue that many types of students who could use a tuition break - such as retraining workers - are left out of this announcement. Let's hope, however, that the government comes up with another plan to help out those students in the very near future.
It's a step in the right direction in the area of tuition fees. Let's lobby more jurisdictions throughout North America to follow Ontario's lead and give college and university students the breaks they deserve!