Despite launching a new program providing assistance to students from middle-class families, the New Brunswick government is receiving some backlash over the application process for the Tuition Access Bursary.
READ MORE: Credit check requirement could cost older, low-income students NB Tuition Access Bursary
Launched in April 2016, the Tuition Access Bursary (TAB) was created to provide free tuition for New Brunswick students from families earning $60,000 or less.
Almost immediately, concerns were raised about its hard cut-off.
That led to the recent announcement of the Tuition Relief for the Middle Class program, which covers in some cases a large percentage of costs for students whose families earn more than $60,000.
READ MORE: New Brunswick announces tuition assistance for middle class families
But another main concern hasn’t been revisited – and has Madeleine Dube, opposition critic for the Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour file, questioning why it was ever part of the process to begin with.
“If it would be a loan, it would be kind of normal that you would do a credit check. I mean, I can understand that,” Dube said. “Why do we need a credit check for free money that we will give?”
Dube argued during the Standing Committee on Estimates and Fiscal Policy that many mature and non-traditional students could be denied tuition assistance if their credit scores aren’t up to par, which she believes would take the program away from the very people it’s designed to help.
“If you want to bring access to post-secondary education, give full access to everyone,” she said.
Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Donald Arsenault said the application process for TAB is like any other.
Arsenault isn’t sure how many students who otherwise would have been approved for TAB were denied due to their credit score, but he says it’s something his department will track in the future.
The minister also indicated a rejected application isn’t always the end of the line for a prospective student.
“Just because you got told you failed your credit check doesn’t mean it just stops there,” he said. “We sit back down with you and if you can really elaborate and explain the circumstance why you were in that situation and it’s legitimate, there’s opportunity there for that decision to be reversed.”
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