The president of the Lakehead University Student Union says the province’s much-touted tuition rebate program is not nearly enough to keep students out of the poorhouse.
Micahel Snoddon on Wednesday was conspicuously absent from the speaker’s list as Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Glen Murray paid a visit to the Thunder Bay campus to push the program and encourage more student to apply for the 30 per cent rebate.
Snoddon said the province needs to consider expanding the program to include all students, and not just those younger than 24 and out of high school four years or less.
While Murray did mention programs being available for mature and graduate students, too many fall through the educational cracks, he said.
“I would have liked to have seen an expansion in saying this government today is going to commit money so that mature and part-time students and graduate students are able to get this funding,” said Snoddon, who because of his age does not qualify for the grant, despite the fact his parents combined income is under the $160,000 threshold.
“Graduate students have gotten a double whammy. They’ve gotten millions of dollars slashed in grants and they’re not getting this as well.”
Qualified university students get $800 a semester back, while college students get $365.
Snoddon, who added it’s important to remember not all parents are paying tuition costs for students, regardless of income level, said the government is putting money in one pocket and taking it from another.
“Next month our tuition is going up. So the minister talks about how the Conservatives have raised tuition by 67 per cent, well, they’re well on that route as well. It’s been five-and-a-half per cent every year since 2006. That adds up quickly. There’s definitely a double standard going on,” Snoddon said.
Murray, in his speech to educators and administrators gathered at Lakehead’s Agora, boasted his government has increased the number of seats at colleges and universities in Ontario by 200,000 since first coming to power in 2003.
story continues after video ...
He pointed to options like the second-career program the Liberals instituted in the wake of the recent recession and said the current 30 per cent rebate was never meant to be all encompassing, but aimed at getting more high school students started along the post-secondary education path in order to boost the province’s university and college participation numbers to 70 per cent.
At present 66 per cent of the population has attended one or the other.
Murray, who promised in the coming years to hold the largest discussion on the future of post-secondary education in the province, said the rebate program is about families that are still struggling financially.
“That wasn’t lost on us,” he said.
University president Brian Stevenson applauded the rebate and urged students who qualify to apply.
“This is the first big movement in my adult life where we’re beginning to see help coming back to students in a major way,” Stevenson said.
Lakehead kinesiology student Alyssa Bachorski said the money will come in handy for her family, who are trying to put two students through university at the same time.
“Everything is so expensive, so getting that money to help us get a little bit further is awesome,” she said, also agreeing with Snoddon that tuition hikes must end.
Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
