The federal government is bringing welcome change for Indigenous, part-time and adult students but lacks bold vision for post-secondary education, the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) said, in reaction to the 2017 budget.
Among the budget changes the CFS supports is the investment of $90 million into the Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) for Indigenous students, and expanding eligibility for the federal grants for part-time students and adult learners with dependent children.
“It falls short of what exactly we wanted but we are seeing incremental changes that are proving politicians have to talk about what our priorities are,” said Bilan Arte, CFS’ national chairperson.
Funding for the PSSSP was capped in the 1990s despite growth in the number of Indigenous students, according to Arte, who said the injection of money will help about 10,000 students accepted to post-secondary schools.
The CFS lobbied the federal government to increase funding for the program after it was left out of last year’s budget.
“This is a result of the lobbying and direct action that students have done in this country,” Arte said. “That’s a huge takeaway for students, especially at Carleton.”
Arte applauded new spending on youth jobs in the face of the rising ubiquity of unpaid internships and precarious contract work.
She also welcomed greater grant eligibility but said the new measure would increase competition for an already limited pool of funding. She said the PSSSP and student grants were band-aid solutions to reduce debt and that the federal government needs to work toward eliminating tuition fees altogether.
“There’s no bold vision in this budget,” she said. “There’s nothing in here that addresses the fact that students across this country and young people are carrying over $28 billion in public debt.”
Meanwhile, the CFS and the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) criticized the budget’s lack of focus on STEM-related programs and in research. CAUT has called for $500 million in spending over three years to restored research funding to 2007 levels. The budget did not outline additional funding for research.
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