"I would bet you 10 to 1 that if international students stopped attending Canadian schools the tuition rate for Canadian students would go up because the cost of the infrastructure is a fixed cost which has to be covered.

"Therefore, I go back to my original point, called it what you will but international students paying international student fees offset (subsidise) the cost of tertairy level education for Canadians."

And if the Canadian students stopped going the tuition for international students would go up by even more because there's so fewer of them?  Therefore the Canadian students are paying more of a subsidy to internationals with your position.

This is silly Guilden.  The Canadian students pay less because their families paid taxes which support universities, the international students pay as if they didn't pay that tax on the per student cost.

International students aren't subsidizing local students.  They just aren't.  If you refuse to accept reality then that's your choice.  But it doesn't change the facts.

So you speak factually and I do not.

If Canadian students stopped attending Canadian schools there would be no need to have Canadian schools now would there?

Based on the way you started this statement "And if the Canadian students stopped going the tuition..." I take you agree that tuition rates for Canadians would be higher if international students did not attend. Is that not fact?

Therefore......

I give up Guilden.  Believe what makes you feel better.

Ace,

Sure there are other medical schools in the Caribbean and some of them are NOT very good institutions at all. But before you speak and generalise you should at least find out what UWI is and the calibre of students it has produced.

Some of the best medical minds in the Caribbean were schooled at UWI. The Caribbean is also recognised as having some of the best legal minds and many were schooled at UWI.

You have not commented on my earlier posts regarding the types of surgeries that are being performed in the Bahamas and the Caribbean region by UWI graduates, who are also, by the way U.S. Board certified. In order to undergo these types of operations Bermudians need to travel overseas.

Outside of schools like Oxford and London School of Economics I am sure there are many wonderful schools in the U.K. you haven't heard of but does that make them useless schools? In your rmind probably not because, and please correct me if I am wrong, you are like many Bermudians, you believe that anything Caribbean cannot be top class so you don't even bother to research the topic, you simply reach your conclusion based on perception. If that is the case you are the one who is in need of education.

"it is about where tuitions would go for Canadians if international students did not attend and pay higher fees, the FACT is Canadians would pay more."

Not a fact.  The schools would simply scale down based on the reduced enrollment so Canadian tuition was unchanged to offset.  It might take a short period to absord the sudden reduction and adjust but they would never have accepted international students in the first place if they weren't covering their costs.  It's a simple fact that no subsidizing is taking place.  It might help with economies of scale, but the full fee is not full fee plus an amount to give Canadians a discount.  That comes from tax dollars.

International students are a bonus. They're not going to take a loss on them so they'd reduce to the levels that were required solely to educate Canadian students at the fee levels they could charge.

Your whole argument assumes they don't make the relevant adjustments in expenses by reducing faculty etc.. Why would they run the same size infrastructure for a smaller student body?  It doesn't make sense Guilden but that's central to your flawed argument.

International students are a bonus that are for all intents and purposes cost neutral (aka unsubsidized and cover their own cost).

I can see you're not going to accept the facts.  But it is what it is.

"The Caribbean is also recognised as having some of the best legal minds and many were schooled at UWI."

LOL

Boy, I have some clients that would beg to differ on the first point, nevertheless even if it is a fact your parents decided to send you to Acadia.  Why?

From a legal perspective, take a look at where many of the top attorneys who have practice in Bermuda are from. People like the late Richard Hector QC (?), Archie Warner, etc. I will conceed that they may not all have gone to UWI.

There are many Privy Councilors from the Caribbean,, one of them is Hon. Perry Christie the immediate former Prime Minister of the Bahamas. Additionally, there is only one place outside of the U.K. where the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has set and that is right here in the Bahamas in December 2006. If that is not a sign of respect for the legal profession in the Bahamas than I do not know what is. Not even the GREAT Bermuda market has been able to secure such an event.

Additionally take a look at the number of QCs that hail from the Caribbean.

I told you above just because it is Caribbean and not Bermudian does not mean it is inferior, but that is not surprising based on what many in Bermuda would have you believe what the Caribbean is.

Please do some research before you speak, legal work does not always mean insurance, reinsurance or investment work, it is much broader than that.  Come on Ace, I had you pegged as being better than that.

Actually I chose Acadia. When I was at Bermuda College I had never realy heard of UWI.

They are not ... know why? ... because of the professors (the teachers) ... top schools attract top minds (both teacher and student) ... these folk research as well as teach ... cutting edge research ... this attracts external corporate and governmental funding ... therefore they have better external funding for their programs ... better funding should translate to better facilities and a greater ability to attract top minds (higher salaries, more administrative support, larger and/or more extensive libraries) ... these are the teachers that write the text books the other teachers teach from ... students compete fiercely for admission to these schools to learn directly from these teachers ... or (if fortunate) be one of the few who gets to work directly with them ... only students with excellent grades and a rounded background of sports, music/performance and community service need apply ... these schools train students better ... but everyone does not pass ... you compete against equally intelligent and/or talented students ... and some fail when they would have easily passed in another school ... so yeah some degrees are worth more than others ... its only academic discrimination ... survival of the most intelligent (but some common sense and darn hard work doesn't hurt).