News Release Archive
HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION--SENATE SUB-COMMITTEE PRESENTATION ----------------------------------------------------------------- Maritime students are already hurting from cuts to federal government transfer payments for education, and unless action is taken the pain will get worse. That's the view of the interim chair of the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC), Dr. David Cameron. "Our students are being hurt by higher tuition costs, they are burdened with increased debt, and now they are also facing threats to access and mobility," said Dr. Cameron, a political science professor at Dalhousie University. Dr. Cameron, who will present an MPHEC report to the senate sub-committee on post-secondary education in Halifax next week, said federal transfer payments for post-secondary education have lagged behind inflation since the mid-1980s. As a result average annual tuition jumped from $1,700 to $2,700 between 1984 and 1995. At the same time, he said students have seen money available for bursaries dry up. In 1982-83, a majority of Maritime students received student aid averaging $2,700 a year, of which $900 was a non-refundable bursary. By 1994-95, Maritime students typically received $5,800 in aid per year, all of it loans except for an average $300 bursary in New Brunswick. Dr. Cameron said the bottom line for students is that in 1983, they would have graduated from a four-year program with an average debt of $7,200. A 1995 student could well face a debt of more than $22,000. As universities and provincial governments struggle to make do with less, students face challenges in their access to education and training. "First of all," he said, "there's the cost - that's going to be a barrier to many young people who should be going to university. Now, in an effort to save money, some Canadian provinces are making other moves that are going to put up more barriers." The MPHEC is currently undertaking a study of barriers to post-secondary education. The study is scheduled for completion in April. Dr. Cameron said that among the changes being taken, or considered, in some provinces are charging higher fees to out-of-province students and providing student aid only to students who study in their home province. He said these actions are shortsighted. "They are not in the best interests of the students or of the country. Increasingly our world is driven by knowledge-based industries. We want Canada to be able to compete. We want our children to have a decent future. We should all be working together to make that happen. Instead, we seem to be facing new roadblocks. We are in danger of having education become a privilege of an elite, and of seeing regions and provinces pitted against each other." The MPHEC will be making recommendations on these issues to the senate sub-committee, which is on a cross-country tour as part of its examination of the state of post-secondary education in Canada. "The MPHEC will bring to the sub-committee a broad view of the existing situation and its problems," Cameron added. "We represent a cross-section of Maritimers and for nearly 25 years we have been helping the whole Maritime region in the efficient and effective allocation of education resources." The MPHEC was formed in 1973 with members from all three Maritime provinces, including representatives of the provincial governments, universities, students and the general public. -30- Contact: Dr. David Cameron 902-494-6626 trp Feb. 14, 1997 - 11:55 a.m.