Economics EE : To what extent has rising post-secondary education fees..

[-Carl]

Hello all!

I'd like some help on my EE planning.. my RQ: To what extent has rising post-secondary education fees affected the demand and supply of education in Nova Scotia?

First,is this question to broad? I feel like it's focused enough, however the wording can be alternated a bit.. Second, I have no idea how to plan this. Here's a little background info, post-secondary education fees have been rising in my province, at some of the highest rates within the country, and as aforementioned, I would like to investigate how this has affected student demand/supply. However, I just don't know what I could talk about in the essay itself.. Perhaps: Identify terms such as demand/supply, how much post-secondary education fees have risen, why they have risen and finally their effect on demand and supply (which could be conducted by student-based surveys?) On that note, should I focus on economically based questions in the survey? Finally, are there any other sections in Microeconomics that I could possible integrate in essay? Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Oh yes, and I'm an Economics SL student :-)

Edited September 8, 2011 by -Carl

[dessskris]

it's too narrow.

what is the problem in the first place?

if the government stopped subsidising or something, maybe it could be a good EE topic but the RQ is still too focused.

[Arrowhead]

I disagree, it isn't too narrow, in fact it is just right, you just need to find different ways of analysing it. I would go to the local universities' websites and see their statistics of number of student intakes over the years. Or go to the Unis themselves ask for records. I would then compare statistics across Universities, from the best Uni in Nova Scotia to the least impressive (by popular vote) and see whether there has been a steady decline in post-secondary education in recent times, how have the numbers changes. I would supplement the raw data with Surveys as you suggested OP and distribute it among various High School students within the area who are looking to apply in Nova Scotia.

I would also make a brief analysis of the addition and removal of the number of students who pursue post-secondary education outside of Nova Scotia but are from the region and are generally included in the overall statistics of students counted to attend their local schools. I would then try to show that the fall in post-secondary education in Nova Scotia has fallen/risen/stayed the same because more/less/the same number of students are going outside of the areas considered for their education.

By no means is this an easy topic and you will have to do a lot of running around to get this topic right. But if you're willing to put in the effort, this can become a pretty good EE. If you're not willing however, this EE has disaster written all over it (as are most Economics EEs of this nature).

Best of luck!

Arrowhead.