When a site like this appears from the ether it’s understandable that visitors will want to know where it comes from, who put it there, and what their motivation might be.

Retired since 2008, I spent twenty-five years of my life working at two major universities, initially within central administration but mostly with student government.

I’ve chosen to poke my head above the parapets of retirement because the financial inefficiency of our post-secondary institutions has long been a personal “hobby-horse”, and because the situation has worsened considerably since I wrote an article on this topic for Maclean’s in January 2010. I’ve continued accumulating the data, and created this site because PSE is obstinately unwilling to address its own failings, and seemingly disinterested in their consequences. I hope to keep the site updated (time, circumstances and health permitting) as new numbers and new issues emerge.

Of course, I have a natural fondness for students, having worked so closely with them for so many years. That was such a privilege. Every year saw the arrival of a new set of elected leaders, bringing a new finger on the pulse of students. Every year I was awed by their ability to see to the heart of issues and determination to resolve them, by their enthusiasm to be an involved and constructive part of those solutions, by their sensitivity and social conscience that changed the way I saw the world, and by their boundless energy. Many of them have, unsurprisingly, gone on to be real leaders in various sectors of the Canada beyond the gates of campus. One of PSE’s greatest weaknesses is its reluctance to properly embrace those leadership talents in decision-making processes while they’re inside the gates of campus. They are our future.

That’s why I decided to devote personal time and money to the development of this site. The current situation is damaging, dangerous and unsustainable, and it is negatively impacting young lives and the fabric of our country. The fact that I’m also a Canadian, a father and a grandfather only serves to magnify my concern – as it should for anybody who doesn’t want to see their loved ones struggling to build their lives with a debt millstone hanging around their necks.

Nobody has “put me up to this”. After spending so much time on this analysis over the years, sharing my concerns is something I feel I have to do before the lid closes on me. And before those grandchildren (hopefully) set foot on a PSE campus for the first time.

My hope is that the site will help to spotlight issues that have needed to be addressed for a long time. This reaches to the heart of things that are very important – our students (those of today and future generations), our post-secondary institutions, and the unique Canadian society in which we are privileged to live.

On a closing note, I must beg your indulgence. I was born eons before the technology-crazy world of today appeared. The nature of the subject matter makes this site text- and table-heavy, and that won’t work so well for people who do most of their surfing on smartphones and small tablets. And, regardless of how you access it, the site will appear rudimentary and lacking in glitzy features; that’s down to two things – at my age it’s substance over style every time, and (this being funded entirely from my own savings) there are limits on the affordability front.

William Doswell Smith