British Columbians Feel That High Tuition Fees Are Preventing Young People From Getting Degrees And Diplomas

Vancouver, BC -- A series of questions regarding tuition fees for post-secondary education in BC was added to the BC Reid Express telephone omnibus in July of 2006. Amongst other findings, 70% of British Columbians agree that high tuition fees in BC's colleges, universities or other post-secondary institutions are preventing young people from getting degrees or diplomas, with 42% agreeing strongly and 28% agreeing somewhat. Twenty-nine percent of British Columbians disagree with this statement, 12% disagreeing strongly and 17% disagreeing somewhat. The remaining 1% are undecided.

On another note, 90% of British Columbians agree (61% strongly, 29% somewhat) that one of the ways to solve BC's current skills shortage is for the provincial government to invest more in public colleges, universities and training institutions. Ten percent of British Columbians disagree, with 6% disagreeing strongly and 4% disagreeing somewhat.

These results are based on 800 telephone interviews with British Columbians, 18 years of age and older from the BC Reid Express omnibus survey. Interviews were conducted between July 6th and July 11th with residents from throughout the province. The final data are statistically weighted to reflect the actual age and gender of the British Columbia population and are balanced by region. With a provincial sample of 800, one can say with 95% certainty that the overall results are within 1773.5 percentage points of what they would have been had the entire BC population been surveyed. The margin of error will be larger for sub-groupings of the survey population.

For more information on this news release, please contact:
Rhys Gibb
Senior Research Manager
Ipsos Reid
(604) 329-1864
[email protected]

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