Statistics Canada report mentions a seven per cent increase in the inflation rate in August 2022. Inflation does not only affect house bills and gas but also the prices of basic necessities increased such as food, water bills, and phone bills.
Saving up for the future isn’t exactly new and according to the Bank of Canada, high inflation would hurt someone’s standard of living according to the Bank of Canada. A few Humber students were asked how they plan on saving up or how they are currently saving up.
Merril Mitchell, a first-year student in the music program, living at the Humber’s residence has worked throughout the summer just to save up before the school year started.
“I use the TD App. A tool known as TD My Spend basically shows you how much you spend on average every month. So, it keeps you on track,” Mitchell said.
A picture of Humber College Residential building from across the road. Photo credit: Kendra Young
Humber’s residential areas have 213 suite rooms which can accommodate 425 residents. According to Humber’s website, the suites are furnished and contain two bedrooms with a shared bathroom and kitchenette. There are also traditional single rooms, however, it is only available on North Campus.
The base price for a suite room is $9,298 which would cover two semesters and $4,475 which would only cover one semester. Along with the price of a suite room, there are four different meal plans which would also cover two semesters. A regular meal plan would cost $2,350, meanwhile, a medium meal plan would cost $2,850, and a large meal plan would cost $3,400. Meanwhile, the meal plan that comes along with a suite room for one semester costs $1,175.
Hasti Zazai, a third-year student enrolled in an advertising and graphic design program, lives in downtown Toronto and has a part-time job that helps her pay her bills. She takes both the streetcar and the bus to school.
Her commute ride from her place to the school takes about an hour or so if she considers the traffic and the construction and she is only at the school three times a week. She said her supposed 15 minutes ride with the streetcar would last for an hour since she is from downtown Toronto. She is often asked by her professors why she is late since she commutes to school during rush hours.
Despite the inflation, TTC has decided not to change the fare as they wanted to focus on long-term projects like modernizing TTC and aiming for the city’s transit needs in the future. Presto cards can be bought for $6 from select retail stores, fare vending machines, ticket vending machines, and customer service outlets.
Noah Brown is a third-year student in the advanced diploma program in public relations who lives in Brampton and uses his car to go to school. He has a full-time job as a restaurant manager while being a full-time student.
“I’m spending about $56 each week to fill up my car and then I got to pay for parking. So parking [costs] for about six to nine dollars a day, depending on how long you’re gonna be, cost about three hours. I pay one dollar each hour, but it takes another extra two hours in between. So about $6 every day,” Brown said.
He was not sure if buying the parking pass was worth it, especially if he only goes to school for three days. It seems “more viable” for him to pay per day instead of buying a parking pass since it works well for him specifically.
Students pay $293.25 for parking permits that would last four months, however, it is different for the staff. Part-time staff would pay $88 for a parking permit that would last for only one semester, meanwhile, full-time staff would pay $883 for a parking permit that would last the whole semester.
On that note, the City of Toronto allows drivers to have street parking permits which cost from more than $20 to more than $1,400, with no tax included. There is a parking permit called Temporary Parking Permit which allows an individual to park in a licensed street within the permit area given to them, however, this does not guarantee a parking space for them. A temporary parking permit is available for 24-hour parking which costs $14.88 plus tax per space, 48-hour parking which costs $22.32 plus tax per space and weekly parking which costs $34.39 plus tax per space.
