The price of post-secondary education has gone stratospheric in Canada, Stilly, but it’s still within reach of middle-class families that plan ahead. Unfortunately for Faith, her parents don’t fit that description either way, which is where I come in.

That said, it’s hard to look past the fact that tuition alone has increased from Cdn$800 per year in September 1979, when I entered first year at Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario, to Cdn$8,000 today, at King’s College, University of Western Ontario, in London. The cost of living has likewise accelerated beyond mortal ken, and Faith will have to spend her first weeks on the ground in London securing a part-time job. I gather that’s normal these days.

Faith has a younger brother, Logan, who is entering Fanshawe College (a polytechnic, also in London) in a program that will prepare him for a career in law enforcement. Fanshawe is less pricey than Western, but still way beyond the family’s means. Gotta talk to Logan, but he’s working for a roofer and harder to get hold of than his sister.