Have you ever heard the saying “you’ve got to spend money to make money?” This is the situation Trent University is continuously finding itself in.
Ever since Trent made the move to sell the downtown colleges this has been an ongoing issue. Transactions such as that one have become “fast money” scenarios whereby a company is willing to pay money for something Trent University owns, and Trent gets an immediate profit instead of a long term investment.
Trent University seems to not care about the long term investments that they do hold. Local news channels reported on poor maintenance in on-campus housing last year. They were guided by students who lived on campus and were tired of paying so much money for a landlord who was too cheap to fix their faucets.
Trent University outsources their food services. For a small amount of profit, Aramark replaced the cafeterias of yesteryear. The company brings in their own (poorly made) product – mass produced, bland, overpriced – Trent sells them the space to do so and gives them an monopoly of food services on campus.
The inability Trent University has to hire professors (or rather, it’s refusal to hire new ones) speaks again to the lack of investment in the future of their school, their product, and/or their educational value.
With this mounting list of all the things Trent University has not been doing, it should not come as a surprise that there has been an uproar of students who continue to be unhappy about the privately owned residences that Trent has outsourced to be built. According to one leaked source, Trent University collects an initial $1,779,200 in land lease payments at the beginning of their deal and 5% gross revenue for each year after the first 20 years of the lease.
New students and students interested in Trent University will not be aware of the lack of interest Trent has in it’s own future. With lofty documents such as the “Academic Plan” creating the illusion of administrative integrity, the majority of the incoming student population have no concerns for what they are supporting by living in a near-but-off-campus pile of bricks. This residence will be more well maintained than the on-residence campus (if we take into account the mentality of “it can’t be any worse”). Why would they worry?
However, it is this editor’s belief that these are the first signs of a failing school. One day if you are like me and are starring at a $25,000 invoice from the Ontario and Federal governments, you will want that degree to matter. The school you attend should continue to exist because, even if you regret coming here, your education would become devalued if you came to a school which could no longer function.
So when you point out to me on the streets next week that Trent University spent millions on creating and updating their gym facilities, make sure to weigh first whether that purchase was truly important in getting students to come to Trent. Sports scholarships are more apt to exist in our southern neighbours’ education system, and if you were to come to Trent and notice it falling apart would fancy gym equipment sway you to stay? I don’t think so.
Editor’s Note:
So my words are fine, but you ask why did I make the editorial decision to publish that ad for the new privately funded residences last week? The ad space paid Arthur $450. That’s it. It is wholly unprofessional to drag down the company who pays you the week they advertise, so we wait a week and we fight these battles together.
