Education. Something no one can survive in this modern world of ours without. So then why, I ask, are they constantly raising the cost of tuition for post secondary institutions? Having three older siblings in college and university gives me some insight into what my future holds. According to very reliable sources, it holds earning a pay check and using the majority of my sweat and blood to pay for an education whose cost has increased at least 100% in the past 3 years.

It all started in 2001, when we, the voters of B.C., made the mistake in voting for Gordon Campbell. After being put into power, Campbell took the freeze off tuition fees. This allowed post secondary institutions to decide how high they wanted tuition fees to be. When this first hit the headlines, students were given only one semester of notice - one semester to obtain more money to afford college or university. Once the liberal government came into power, they took it upon themselves to fire the majority of the board of governors and appointed their little liberal friends.

All this has led to many hardships for students just trying to get the proper education in order to obtain their dream job. Some of these hardships include scholarships and bursaries decreasing in the amount of money offered, millennium scholarships decreasing the number of people that can obtain them, student loans haven't increased to keep up with the increasing cost of education, and class sizes have been increased; therefore, the proper student teacher relationship cannot be formed.

Students aren't the only ones affected. Many teachers were laid off due to the cutting of varying programs. Funding hasn't even risen, even though the government has required them to increase student seating. So I ask you this, how many of us want to live away from our parents before we settle down with that someone special? How many of us want to backpack through Europe, see ancient cities in South America, or go scuba diving off the coast of Australia? Well, these dreams can be hard to reach if we have to pay $350 for a 3 credit course at the University of British Columbia with an added cost of at least $100 for textbooks.

I don't think anyone wants to be 30 and just finish paying off their student loans.