Day of Action in 9 Days

Feb. 7th Day of Action

Is in 9 Days!

Only 9 days left before the Feb. 7th day of Action!! I'm sure that I've mentioned a million times already how excited I am about this. The amount of tuition now is rather ridiculous - and the funny thing is, tuition costs go up, yet students do not see any improvements in the quality of their post-secondary education. Where exactly is this money going? It obviously isn't going back to the students. If more emphasis were placed on post-secondary education, and the benefits of education has on society - if perhaps beaurocrats give two-cents about (post-secondary) education, the Canadian Federation of Students would not have had to devise this brilliant plan of having at least a half-million students walking out on February 7th.

Today's information is from an article posted on the reducetuition.ca website - a good read.


Students to Doer: Why wait another five years?
-->Tuesday, November 14, 2006

WINNIPEG--
The Canadian Federation of Students is encouraged that the Doer government plans to keep the tuition fee freeze, and acknowledge in today’s throne speech the student debt crisis as well as the social value that education provides, but is urging the provincial government not to delay financial relief to students for five years.

“We agree that student debt and the costs of education stifle young people and the economy,” said Stacy Senkbeil, Provincial Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. “So why tinker with tax credits that benefit few when the tuition fee freeze already keeps young people in Manitoba?”

Added Senkbeil: “Students are paying their tuition fees and taking on student debt now, many can’t afford to wait five years for relief.”

Although the details of the tuition fee tax credit policy have yet to be unveiled, preliminary information from the provincial government suggests that the programme will be modeled after New Brunswick’s tax credit. Only those paying income tax are eligible to receive the credit in that province, and the programme does nothing to improve access for those that cannot afford tuition fees in the first place. The Canadian Federation of Students points out that the tuition fee freeze and other up-front measures like low-income grants may be more effective than the New Brunswick model, both for attracting young people to Manitoba and improving access to universities and colleges.

According to figures released last month by the provincial government, 3,294 more young people between the ages of 15 and 24 came to Manitoba than left during the period between 1999 and 2006. This compares favorably to the net loss of 2,579 between 1992 and 1999, when tuition fees were rising.

Concluded Senkbeil: “Fee reductions and grants are based on the idea that education benefits everyone: they give students with modest incomes a better chance of getting an education, while tax credits are only an investment in those that can afford fees in the first place.”