There has been a move taken place across Canada in the last few years, where private colleges have taken a prominent role in post-secondary education.  From where I am sitting in NL, the public post-secondary institutes are restructuring and reconfiguring their education offerings. What is no longer offered at the public college level, are now being offered at the private college level. Also in NL, the one and public college are no longer offering adult basic education to acquired a grade 12 diploma, and now the job has gone to the private colleges at the high price of $4000 in tuition. 

I have also observed the federal government’s hand at play, concerning job retraining and getting a grade 12 diploma. Federal funding is now being directed at private colleges who specializes in skilled trades. For example, I noted on the list of private colleges - the Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute. http://www.patinstitute.ca/index.php/

The Pre-Apprenticeship Training Institute is an example of federal dollars coming via through the federal retraining programs.

I have also observed in NL, as it is in Ontario, the private colleges do not list their tuition fees. One must contact them for the information. The reason is, tuition fees run on average from $4000 to $10,000 for one or two year programs. The more specialized the programs are, the tuition fees are at the high end of the $10,000.  It has resulted in some skilled trades that requires apprenticeships, costing an individual paying out close to $20,000 in tuition fees, before they even leave the apprenticeship and become duly certified.

“The rationale seems to be that it doesn’t matter whether an institution is public or private so long as it is doing a decent job of educating the students. It may be too obvious to mention, but this rationale applies to education at all levels.”  Pretty difficult to confirm the statement if public or private is doing a decent job of educating the students, when the public and private institutes do not published or indeed track the data streams of students outcomes. I certainly would love to see the numbers in skilled trades education, just to disprove or prove that skilled trades education has become a money racket, rather than a ticket for a well paying job. As for the K to 12 education system, it appears that a decent education is of no importance, and would rather have their grade 12 graduates pay on their own dime, what should have been taught and mastered sometime in the 12 years of public schooling.

Considering that, entry in an accounting position of data input, now requires a two year college certificate. Rather amusing, I am told I am over qualified and I don’t have the certificates to be considered for a job, that I can do in my sleep. Soon, there will be a one year college program to become a waitress or a cashier. To ensure that the employers have waitresses and cashiers can count and are duly certified to worked as waitresses and cashiers. Back in my day, the high school’s four year commercial program, students were actually taught a host of skills and knowledge, that enable them to walk into a entry level job across the span in various occupations. In my first three jobs as a teenager, I was hired simply because I was in the 5 year Arts and Science program based on the assumption that I could do math. In one job, I was hired in April, where I started at the bottom. By June, I got a pay raise and the new position of supervisor, based on my skills of being able to quickly tabulate bills accurately. The high school diploma has no value in 2014, because students are walking out without the skills and knowledge bases. Ergo, all students are virtually force to attend post-secondary on their own dime, to obtained a diploma or a certificate that does have value to employers. 

Leave it to the public K to 12 education establishment to find new niches for certified teachers. A few weeks ago, I saw an advertisement on the web of a course being offered for a price, for senior citizens to learn how to use an i-pad. I thought to myself, what is the world coming to when 21st century learning entwined with the life time learning, one must pay for the privilege of what should have been taught in the K to 12 system for such simple things such as the operation of an i-pad or planting a garden or taking care of your pets. I can understand why one should pay for a photography course, but why should anyone pay for basic skills that should have been taught in the public K to 12 education system?  However, the good news is that there is plenty of online courses offered by post-secondary institutes and others for free, for the basics of operation of a i-pad to fixing the lawn motor engine to learning about the Age of Jefferson to Buddhist Meditation. Apparently a little birdie told me, that the teachers’ unions do not approved of online courses being offered for free…....

A Toronto Star story of a private school shutting its doors….....“In her 2013 annual report, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk wrote that “private schools are not required to demonstrate that they will be financially viable operations. Schools that close during the year could put students at risk academically and their parents at risk financially.”

“In contrast, students in Ontario’s private career colleges are protected financially and academically, as every college is required by legislation to prove it is financially viable and is required to deposit money into a fund to help its students find alternative programs in the event the college ceases operations,” Lysyk wrote.”

What a contrast between private colleges and private schools. “Casey’s son Andrew is now back in the public system, but his average has dropped and overall he’s “regressing.”

“I have just hired an education consultant in Ohio to assess his needs and help me find a school in the USA,” she wrote in an email. “After finding out that there is no support here for families of the private school system and that this is allowed to happen, I don’t trust our Canadian system anymore.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2014/01/25/private_school_closes_parents_out_22000_in_tuition.html