HALIFAX – Today’s provincial budget confirms that students and their families will face yet another 3 per cent tuition fee increase this year, bringing total tuition fee increases to 12 per cent in the last 4 years. At the same time, the government is eliminating $39 million in funding in financial aid programs
“Recent polling by the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia shows that 85 per cent of Nova Scotians support reducing tuition fees,” said Nick Stark, National Executive Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia. “Students and their families can’t afford another 3 per cent increase.”
The 2014 budget will also eliminate $49 million in funding for the Graduate Retention Rebate. Despite some modest investments in new programs, overall financial aid cuts in this budget total $39 million. Students have long advocated that funding for the Graduate Retention Rebate be reinvested to replace student loans in Nova Scotia with non-repayable, up front grants.
“The Liberal government could have followed the steps of Newfoundland and Labrador and eliminated provincial student loans in Nova Scotia,” said Stark. “Instead, once again, students and our families are being forced to shoulder the financial burden of college and university education in Nova Scotia.”
The Canadian Federation of Students, Canada’s national student movement, is comprised of nearly one-half million students from over 80 college and university students’ unions. Students in Canada have been represented by the Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organisations since 1927
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