Employment trends and income data for university graduates show that post-secondary education is associated with better permanent jobs, higher salaries, greater income increases over time, and a better chance of accessing social benefits such as pensions. Regardless of field of study, these benefits of post-secondary education remain. Statistics Canada data shows that full-time geography graduates earn an average of over $72,000 per year, comparable to the income of biology and biomedical science graduates. Meanwhile, data collected in 2022 by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission indicates that 91% of university graduates surveyed in the Maritime Provinces two years after graduation are working full-time, with median earnings of $55,100 per year. Post-secondary education is not only directly associated with career and financial benefits, but also with greater job satisfaction, a greater propensity for civic engagement and a healthier lifestyle.
Post-secondary education, whether is is university, college, or an apprenticeship, remains an effective tool for ensuring the upward socioeconomic mobility of our young people. Alas! despite this, New Brunswick has a university graduation rate of 35%, well below the national average of 42%. Unfortunately, this gap has remained virtually unchanged for decades. This situation is a source of great concern to New Brunswick’s professors and librarians, who have long campaigned for better access to post-secondary education. We know that there are two key factors that improve the chances of obtaining a university degree: 1) one of the student’s parents holds a university degree; 2) affordable tuition fees. Clearly, one of the most effective solutions to reversing New Brunswick’s university graduation deficit is to make university more affordable.
We urge the New Brunswick government and the province’s public universities to address the barriers to education head-on, particularly as they relate to aboriginal peoples. The calls to action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s report focus primarily on the education system, and more specifically on our universities, institutions that must play a leading role in remedying the socio-economic inequalities deeply rooted in our society due to the unfavourable treatment of Canada’s aboriginal peoples.
Given the effectiveness of post-secondary education in increasingsocio-economic mobility, it is imperative that our public universities become universally accessible. Universities must be an open and fully inclusive place, and they must provide the resources to transform and eliminate systemic barriers on all fronts. This is the noblest of aspirations for post-secondary institutions in a truly democratic and egalitarian society.
Join the FNBFA this provincial election and call for strong public universities – an investment in New Brunswick’s future.
