Today. Soil on the front quad (University Circle)

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70Challenger said:
I hope the next step after this project is to powerwash the buildings around the campus. Lots of black stained facades around.
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I'm not aware of any component of the project for this........

The staining on the heritage portion of Gerstein probably requires a restoration project.

But Med. Sci should be able to get a facelift as part of their new-build. I rather think Westbank would want to include that, but make sure and give input when the chance arises.
 
To my eyes this is one of the most important and underacknowledged city building projects in all of Toronto. It will have a transformational effect on, not just the university, but much of the surrounding neighbourhood. In terms of car free greenspace it's like adding another Queen's Park to the area.

If the greening of University Ave ever happens it will effectively weave the U of T campus, Queen's Park and Nathan Phillips Square into a substantial car free, green necklace threading through much of the western part of the downtown. It's not quite Central Park, but it will still massively improve the experience and image of the inner city.
 
It fills me with both good and bad feelings - yes, I like the pedestrianization of U of T, and the work looks like it will be high quality. But oh U of T was an expensive, soul-crushing institution in the prehistoric era when I was a university student, and the fancier the University it gets, the more soul-crushing it seems.
 
Parkdalian said:
It fills me with both good and bad feelings - yes, I like the pedestrianization of U of T, and the work looks like it will be high quality. But oh U of T was an expensive, soul-crushing institution in the prehistoric era when I was a university student, and the fancier the University it gets, the more soul-crushing it seems.
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It makes me wonder that they did all this project because they already had the money to do it. Thusly, I don't think this project would make the make tuitions go up here if that's what you are getting up...rather if they where to go up, they would go up regardless of this.
 
Domestic tuition fee annual increases are dictated by the province. International tuition fees are not (and is why these fees keep increasing rapidly, since universities can increase and because the province keeps dropping the amount of funds given to higher education). I think the fees are relatively similar.

Significant fundraising efforts and gifts from mostly grads were behind paying for this project. Most higher education capital projects aim for 50% covered by philanthropy.

U of T is zoned commercial and required to have a certain number of parking spaces, so they moved them underground.
 
Parkdalian said:
It fills me with both good and bad feelings - yes, I like the pedestrianization of U of T, and the work looks like it will be high quality. But oh U of T was an expensive, soul-crushing institution in the prehistoric era when I was a university student, and the fancier the University it gets, the more soul-crushing it seems.
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I can't say I ever found U of T soul-crushing. On balance, I mostly have quite fond memories of the place.

I went there in the 90s, and under-grad tuition was moderately affordable (nothing is affordable if you're truly poor), but my first year tuition was just under 3k.

At the time, graduate tuitions (Med. School, Engineering, Law etc.) were still regulated, they were roughly double the undergrad rates or about 6k per year.

Here's the current tuition schedule for U of T:

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Here's the brutal stuff:

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For contrast, this is the Northern Ontario School of Medicine:


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UOttawa (Medicine) is around ~13k + fees

*****

Which is to say, basic undergrad tuition across Ontario is pretty similar, but elite graduate programs for which tuition is deregulated are way more expensive at U of T.

I think graduate tuitions are excessive across the board; U of T's especially so.

The undergrad rates aren't so bad; though I would favour making them lower still.
 
Northern Light said:
I can't say I ever found U of T soul-crushing. On balance, I mostly have quite fond memories of the place.

I went there in the 90s, and under-grad tuition was moderately affordable (nothing is affordable if you're truly poor), but my first year tuition was just under 3k.

At the time, graduate tuitions (Med. School, Engineering, Law etc.) were still regulated, they were roughly double the undergrad rates or about 6k per year.

Here's the current tuition schedule for U of T:

View attachment 492392

View attachment 492393

View attachment 492394

Here's the brutal stuff:

View attachment 492395

For contrast, this is the Northern Ontario School of Medicine:


View attachment 492396

UOttawa (Medicine) is around ~13k + fees

*****

Which is to say, basic undergrad tuition across Ontario is pretty similar, but elite graduate programs for which tuition is deregulated are way more expensive at U of T.

I think graduate tuitions are excessive across the board; U of T's especially so.

The undergrad rates aren't so bad; though I would favour making them lower still.
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Thanks for the detailed research. I was an international student at U of T (UTM) back in the days. Let's just say that my international student fees were not that much higher than the current fees for Ontario students in Arts & Science programs.
 
I would argue that U of T is more expensive due to living costs and a lack of bursaries for undergrads. And yes, opinions vary about U of T. But I can't believe that thinking U of T is a soul-crushing place is a real outlier opinion on here! Just the fact that they have courses that are designed to weed out people (at least they used to! I hope it's changed) - is pointlessly cruel. I would advise any young person planning on doing their undergrad to do it at a smaller university.

But as a part of the city, I do love U of T's architecture and city spaces! They are quite beautiful. When I'm walking through the campus, marvelling at the trees and beautiful detailing, I just have to ignore all the horrible flashbacks I get lol
 
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