The Saskatchewan Party has announced two new initiatives to help with the cost of post-secondary education if it is re-elected to government on November 7.
Brad Wall says the two plans – the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship and the Saskatchewan Advantage Grant for Education Savings – will help students and parents.
“In the last election, we introduced the Graduate Retention Program which refunds your entire tuition costs if you decide to stay and work in Saskatchewan after graduation,” said Wall. “Now, we are taking the next step by helping parents and students save for their education and reduce the cost of their tuition.”
Under the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship, every new high school graduate would receive up to two-thousand dollars, which can be applied to reduce tuition fees at any Saskatchewan post-secondary institution or recognized training course in the province.
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The plan, which would start in 2012, would allow a student to reduce tuition costs by up to five-hundred dollars each year.
The second plan would see the government build on the Registered Education Savings Plan by matching 10 per cent of contributions to a child’s RESP to a maximum of 250-dollars each year.
“Saskatchewan will be the best place in Canada to save for your education, the best place in Canada to receive your education and the best place in Canada to live and work after you complete your education,” said Wall.
The Sask Party estimates that in the first year, the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship would cost 4.6-million dollars if 80 per cent of graduates utilized the scholarship while the education savings program would cost 11-million dollars each year based on the current participation rate in the RESP program.
The NDP says it will release its post-secondary education plans in the coming days but denounced the Sask Party promise.
Cam Broten, the NDP candidate in Saskatoon Massey Place, says the 500-dollars per year falls short of the average 586-dollar average increase in tuition over the last four years.
“A new scholarship program is fine, but it’s not the answer to rising tuition costs,” said Broten. “The Sask Party has offered no strategy to prevent tuition fees from skyrocketing further, which students and families can’t afford.”
The Liberals say it will de-link a student’s family income as well as all employment income and assets from student loan qualifications while the Green Party has promised to eliminate all tuition fees.
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