by CFS

BCʼs families are paying a heavy price for so-called economic recovery, as  tuition fees climb past record levels and student support programs are slashed.

 

“The government brags about BC having the lowest corporate tax rates in  North America, but students and their families are picking up the tab,” said Shamus Reid, Chairperson of the CFS- BC. “It is a very risky  strategy to dump todayʼs debt onto young people and families.”

 

Although BC already ranks dead last among provinces in grant and other aid  disbursements, student support programs suffer further in the 2010  budget. Despite an election promise to maintain student aid funding, the student aid budget has shrunk from $116 million to $84 million since the election, a 28% cut.

 

“BC families are bearing a wildly disproportionate share of the cuts and  tax increases,” said Reid, referring to tuition fees and the HST.

 

“BCʼs wealthiest taxpayers and large industry are escaping any responsibility for balancing the budget.”

 

Tuition fees will also continue to rise this year while per-student funding declines. In sum, the budget shows a troublesome outlook for
post-secondary education:

• revenue from tuition fees will surpass corporate income taxes by $288 million in 2010
• per-student funding will decline by 1%
• student aid will suffer a 28% cut

The Canadian Federation of Students-British Columbia is BC’s provincial student organization, representing 150,000 university and college students at all levels of post-secondary education in BC. It is non-partisan and affiliated with Canada’s largest national student
organization, the Canadian Federation of Students.