HALIFAX – University students in Nova Scotia and their families are facing another rise in tuition costs that have been growing quickly in the past few years.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative predicts tuition fees in Nova Scotia will increase by 10 per cent over the next four years.
As a way to ease the financial burden, a students’ group in the province is calling on Stephen McNeil’s government to reduce tuition fees to the levels they were three years ago.
READ MORE: Here’s where you’ll pay the lowest (and highest) tuition in Canada
The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) wants the Nova Scotia government to roll those fees back.
“Our recommendation right now is that tuition be reduced to 2011 levels,” said Anna Dubinski, the chairwoman of the federation’s Nova Scotia chapter.
She said the group intends to get its point across by “being as active as possible getting signatures on our petition and getting students organized to fight those increases.”
Full-time students in undergraduate programs paid 3.3 per cent more on average in tuition fees this year than they did a year ago.
Universities in the province have the third highest tuition fees in the country, according to a Statistics Canada survey.
The CFS has already presented the provincial government with a petition carrying 5,000 signatures. On Thursday, there was a steady stream of students adding their own names to it.
- Foreign nationals can no longer apply for work permits at the U.S.-Canada border
- Judge finds no documentation to support Global News reporting on Han Dong allegations
- No reports of counterfeit Ozempic in Canada amid WHO warning
- Is bilingualism a ‘myth’? Poll shows divide between Quebec, other provinces
“I’m already $20,000 dollars in debt with student loans,” said Shannon McMullen, a third-year bachelor of science student.
The petition asks for the government to replace the student loan system with grants, which the student does not have to repay.
Megan Murphy, who’s in her first year of a bachelor of science program said the heavy debt loads are “never fun.”
Some of the students said they have friends who decided not to go to university because of the cost.
“They’re stuck doing service jobs, waitressing, that sort of thing,” McMullen said. “They’re not doing what they want with their lives because they just can’t afford it.”
Shawna MacDonald, another third year Science student said she knows a lot of people in the same situation.
“They make enough on paper, but they have debts,” she said. “It’s not feasible and they’re not able to go to school because they just can’t afford it.”
Dubuinski said Memorial University in Newfoundland has the lowest tuition fees because the provincial government there is investing in the students, and the same needs to be done in Nova Scotia.
“Once graduated with their student debts, students are less likely to buy a house, to start a business, start a family and those are the things that young people need to be doing in our province to push our economy forward,” she said.
Comments