Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has proposed $1 billion in financial grants to high school students who plan to go to post-secondary institutions.
The program, named the Canadian Learning Passport, “will be a powerful tool for reducing barriers to attending college and university, and increasing the flow of highly skilled workers into the Canadian economy,” Ignatieff announced March 29. “The message we will give to every one of our kids is, ‘If you have the grades, you get to go.’”
The program would give $1,000 to each student per year and $1,500 to each low-income student each year for four years if the student chooses to attend university, college or CEGEP. The money would be disbursed through existing registered education savings plans (RESPs), according to a Liberal press release.
Ignatieff told the Globe and Mail he hopes the program will take effect in 2012 with the first Liberal budget.
“Students have long been calling for more generous up-front grants to counter rising tuition fees, and the Canadian Learning Passport is a significant step forward,” said Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance president Megan Coker in a statement on the Liberal website.
“With the costs of education beginning in September, most students cannot afford to wait for a tax credit that comes months or years later,” Coker said. “An increase in up-front grants will undoubtedly have a greater impact on accessibility and will ease the financial burden for far more students.”
“The Canadian Learning Passport is a positive investment that will not only help students, but their families as well,” added Zach Dayler, director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.
However, not all student groups are satisfied with the proposal.
Canadian Federation of Students national deputy chairperson Shelley Melanson said she is pleased overall to see a federal party’s investment in non-repayable grants but sheis concerned about the delivery mechanism. “We would support a similar system . . . instead of RESP’s. [Using the RESP system] is almost creating another hoop students have to jump through for money,” she said.
Melanson said it would be better to put funding in the student loans program which is already set in place. She said more than 50 per cent of low-income students are accessing the Canadian Student Loan System, which is much better than having to set up an RESP account in advance.
Promoting student loans would only increase student debt, according to Jim Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. He suggests the money be distributed throughout the provinces for social assistance.
Both groups agree that the Liberal proposal is a good start, but money needs to be redirected and increased to solve the real financial issues of post-secondary education. Turk cautions that the program does not address underlying issues.
“The only solution is to seriously reduce or eliminate tuition. I’m less excited because it deals indirectly with the problem,” Turk said. He said a $1,000 grant would likely be cancelled out by rising tuition fees.
The passport does not seem to have gotten much positive reaction from student voters either. The grant has been criticized because it would not benefit current students by relieving them of any student debt.
“I’m a mature student and went back to school 10 years later, so it does absolutely nothing for me,” said Alyssa Hamilton, a third-year Carleton University humanities student.
Hamilton also said there should not be so much of a push for students to go straight to university after high school.
Ian Macleod, a third-year biochemistry student at Queen’s University, said the passport is a good idea but will not sway his vote one way or another in the federal election either.
“I think it’s cheap pandering to the student vote,” Macleod said. “Pretty stupid too since they obviously only added it to their platform to appeal to university kids, but it will only benefit high-schoolers who are just too young to vote.”