Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Pirate Radio Hits A Nerve In My Hamm
So Craig On Wheels wrote this week to discuss some of his thoughts on what's up with the whole John Hamm-transfer payments-keeping students in the NS debate that's been going on in the provincial news lately (in NS, anyway)
Here's a couple of thoughts I have on the subject.
Here's a couple of thoughts I have on the subject.
- Punishing people for leaving the province is a bad idea, plain and simple. If John Hamm thinks this is the way to go about this he's even more wacked out than I thought.
Keeping people who studied in Nova Scotia is not a bad idea - in fact I think it's a great idea. But if students from away come to study in Nova Scotia, and are then essentially 'fined' for working outside the province, it won't take long for those students to stop coming to NS altogether - our schools will dry up and die within 10 years.
What COULD work, though, is a REWARD system that rewards kids who work in Nova Scotia. If losing them when they leave is causing such a financial drain as it is, why not offer to take some of that money we would be losing if they left, and give it back to them if they stay - they will be paying income tax in NS if they're living and working there right? Give the poor kids a break on their income tax based on some formula that takes into account how much they spent on education in NS, how long they studied, how long they've been working there, etc, etc. Make it attractive to stay.
It won't lure everyone, but there's a lot of people out there who LOVE the town where they went to school for whatever reason and would find it quite natural to work there for 3 - 5 years after they graduate IF THEY COULD. (The problem with this is that the economy of a school town is often based around the school - there's a school, and a bunch of business to support the school. That's it. Sackville, I'm looking at you) - Let's start training people who WANT to work in NS! I've said this for a long time. Let's look at an example of something to illustrate what I'm saying here:
Two students apply to go to med school at Dalhousie:Sally, just graduated from Mount St. Vincent, has pretty good grades (~3.0), and is from Clark's Harbour; Lee, just graduated from Dalhousie, has really good grades (~3.8), and is from Nanjing.
According to the Dal website, a Canadian citizen's costs for a year of training there (it would likely be different for the med school, but we'll use this as a comparison tool because it was easy to find) are ~ $15,000. A non-citizen's costs are up around ~$22,000. As a matter of fact, they list the 'differential' cost to be $5,640. (let's ignore, for a moment, the ridiculous money-laundering mechanism that is our post-secondary education system, and pretend like it really does cost this much money to deliver the training.)
The school obviously wants to take Lee because he will bring them $5K more cash/year than Sally, he will probably go work in some big city when he's done so he'll have lots of cash to send their alumni association, and plus they'll push the cost of dealing with language and cultural barriers off on to him anyway, so it really won't cost that much extra to teach him. Plus his grades are a little better.
Oh whoops, that's the last position at our med school, sorry Sally, try again next year.
What this system fails to take into account is that Sally would more than likely LOVE to take her medical degree back to Clark's Harbour with her when she's done school, and do her doctor thing THERE, in health-care-poor rural NS, taking care of her family and her family's friends and their families, where she can see the water and walk her dog and head in to Yarmouth for a night out every now and again.
Lee on the other hand wants the hell out of Dodge/Hali as soon as he can. He wants to live in t-dot but he didn't get in to school there. He wants to send money back to his family and live in a metropolitan area that's diverse enough to both accept him and his culture and SUPPORT it (I defy you to try to buy some of those squid egg things that Shaggs sent Glen ANYWHERE in Halifax).
What's the POINT Joel?
The point is, if they REALLY want people who go to school in NS to stay in NS when they're done, what they need to do to start off is TRAIN NOVA SCOTIANS!! They LIKE rural life, and they'd love to stay if they thought they could get trained and make a life. Which brings me to point #3: - I like Craig's idea to set up some real partnerships with industry to get some of these kids working. Soybeys, NS Power, Aliant, Maple Leaf, Michelin, I'm looking at all of you.
It's in both the interest of these Corporations and of the Province and its residents to get some real entry-level hiring/training going on. Craig's article elucidates this much better than I could.
Comments:
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This is probably the biggest issue that I would like to deal with in the future.
New Brunswick introduced a decent piece of policy through it's tax relief for graduates that return to the province or remain in the province (including those that moved from out of province).
This is the first step. Our professional associations and universities need to do a better job retaining youth. In Cumberland County, for example, the county health authority is debating offering scholarships to medical students who grew up in the county on the condition that they return to the county for work.
You make a valid point about universities choosing international students over local students. I'll do some "research" (pronounced ra'search) and do another post on the topic with some possible solutions.
New Brunswick introduced a decent piece of policy through it's tax relief for graduates that return to the province or remain in the province (including those that moved from out of province).
This is the first step. Our professional associations and universities need to do a better job retaining youth. In Cumberland County, for example, the county health authority is debating offering scholarships to medical students who grew up in the county on the condition that they return to the county for work.
You make a valid point about universities choosing international students over local students. I'll do some "research" (pronounced ra'search) and do another post on the topic with some possible solutions.
Craig, I look forward to your next piece on this.
Could you please forward any info you have on the NB tax relief program you mentioned in your comment. I've heard this mentioned on a number of occasions but have been unable to find any actual information on it.
Could you please forward any info you have on the NB tax relief program you mentioned in your comment. I've heard this mentioned on a number of occasions but have been unable to find any actual information on it.
Hey man,
It's called the New Brunswick Tuition Tax Cash Back Credit. Here's the brief description of the gov't website with three links with more details on the program.
http://www.gnb.ca/0024/tax/Tax_Cash_Back-e.asp
It's called the New Brunswick Tuition Tax Cash Back Credit. Here's the brief description of the gov't website with three links with more details on the program.
http://www.gnb.ca/0024/tax/Tax_Cash_Back-e.asp
It's a sound program, I think. The Liberals definitely took credit for it when it was announced. I had heard Sean Graham talking about this type of program about a year before it was announced so perhaps they are due credit. I'll include my opinions in my blog later on.
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