I was watching the eleven o’clock news and I was outraged by a story about a university’s medical school selling 10 seats to international students of Saudi Arabia for 75,000 a seat. The people who were speaking about the issue were fellow medical students and a NB government official. They believe that it is completely absurd for the school to do such a thing. I quote, “I think that they should be taking the time to educate Canadians because we have a shortage of physicians." Once I heard the comment it made it fairly clear that the issue was not that they sold seats but more to the fact that it was to international students of Saudi Arabia.

I am a university student and I know many international students. I know for a fact that they pay a higher tuition anyway and yet people are not complaining about that. I feel personally that there is an underlying issue to this story. It costs the average person thousands of dollars to attend a medical school of any kind and would cost one more if they decided to study in another country; nevertheless, people are stating that selling seats for medical school is a problem.

Our school is known to be one of the best universities east of Montreal which makes the tuition cost a reflection of its reputation. These people complain that this action is eliminating opportunities for Canadians but yet numerous Canadians with an easier chance of attending the school do not finish their first year. This is not due to the academic level but to over drinking, lack of motivation and procrastination. Whereas most international students complete their programs and a fair few stay to live in Canada.

I'm not saying that in all cases international students achieve higher than others but the reality of the cost is more evident. There's more encouragement to succeed because some people cannot normally afford to attend school at such a cost. The people gave the impression of prejudice and fear of the unfamiliar. It seems that the real problem is not the seats that were sold but who the seats were sold to. —JP