Education is a right not a privilege

Personally, I don't fall for the arguments justifying tuition fees the way they are now, which basically runs like this: Students who graduate university make more money over a life time, so it is fair to ask them to pay high tuition fees upfront because they will be able to pay whatever financial assistance (lent to them) back once the student enters the labour market. And when your student union at UNB and government officials point to student aid as a way to create accessibility at universities, they are almost always talking about student loans = high debt (student debt levels are especially high in NB).

This is the Liberal Party's thinking, more-or-less, and it is flawed for several reasons. 1.) The estimated earnings in the above argument are almost always inflated to justify their argument. 2.) This discriminate against working class students who either don't go to university or are forced to take higher debt-loads. 3.) This discriminates against women and minorities, as women and minorities are known to earn lower wages/salaries which means they pay more interest on their student loans. 4.)The tax system could do the same thing, in a more fair and equitable way, as those who truly benefit, pay back the system through earning higher income and ultimately paying more taxes (as they should since they benefited from the system the most).

I personally stand behind the principle of zero tuition fees. No it will not happen tomorrow, but we can realize real change in tuition levels if students act in a principled and unified manner. Newfoundland and Quebec seem to be examples of this.
The Canadian Federation of Students stands behind the principle of zero tuition fees:

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"ADOPTED
October 1990


Education is a fundamental right of every human being without distinction of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, political belief, economic, and social condition. User fees, in the form of tuition fees and ancillary fees constitute a barrier to accessing post-secondary education. In 1948, the Government of Canada signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states, "Everyone has the right to education". In 1976, Canada signed the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that states, "Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education".

The cost of post-secondary education and increasing debt levels are significant factors in the decision students make about whether or not to continue their studies beyond high school. It should be recognised that students from low income backgrounds are much more likely to be affected by financial issues when deciding whether to pursue post-secondary education. It should also be recognised that these financial barriers disproportionately affect traditionally marginalised groups in our society.

Students participating in post-secondary education may face considerable financial barriers, including housing, transportation, and user fees. In addition, many students may forgo job earnings to attend a post-secondary institution. Of these, user fees account for the greatest up-front, universal barrier to obtaining a post-secondary education in Canada.
It is the responsibility of governments to fully fund post-secondary education. In the absence of adequate funding, post-secondary institutions often rely on private sources, such as user fees.

Policy

The Federation believes that a universally accessible post-secondary education system will only be achieved once financial barriers to obtaining that education are eliminated. In particular, this requires that post-secondary education be entirely publicly funded, user fees are non-existent, and students have access to student financial assistance for living expenses in the form of non-repayable grants. In the case where tuition fees do exist, the Federation supports their elimination beginning with tuition fee freezes, followed by progressive reductions. The Federation opposes the differentiation of fees on the basis of program, country or province of origin or student status, or for any other reason. The Federation supports reduced or rebated tuition fees for post-resident graduate students. The Federation opposes the justification that increased student financial assistance can offset the effects of higher tuition fees. In particular, the Federation opposes any form of income contingent student loan repayment schemes, as they are designed to facilitate a system of individual fees in which students pay the full cost of post-secondary education, and invariably result in massive tuition fee increases."
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Unfortunately, some view university education as a privilege of their economic status and actively seek to restrict university access in order to make their university education more valuable in the job market. This is a throw-back to the early 20th century and 19th century when class divisions were harsh, and only the extremely wealthy went to university. We know now that extreme divisions in wealth and excessive class privilege is an affront on democracy and gives rise to dangerous ideologies and war, (e.g. see fascism, the First World War, the Second World War, and the state of America today).

Canadian Alliance of Student Associations does not support freezes, they do not advocate for reductions in fees, and they have always disagreed with the Federation over this tuition abolition position. CASA has and does advocate for increased student aid (mostly reforms in student loan distribution), grants, and tax credits (which benefits upper-middle class families only) but that is as far as they will go. They have supposedly championed the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation, however, it was more like a little bone that the Liberals threw to their Young Liberal lap-dogs in order to legitimize the existence of CASA.