NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 14, 2011
Minister of Advanced Education needs to check her facts
Victoria – This week, Minister of Advanced Education Naomi Yamamoto advanced claims in the media about post-secondary funding that are simply not true.
“The Minister claims that 70% of BC students graduate without student debt,” said UVSS Chairperson Tara Paterson. “She clearly needs to get the ministry’s researchers to review a 2009 document issued by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation which states that 54% of BC students graduate with student debt.”
The Millennium Scholarship Foundation document also states that between 2000 and 2009, student debt for BC undergrads grew higher than anywhere else in the country at a rate of 14%, and that BC students have the largest student loans in Canada.
“The Minister also claims that BC has a healthy combination of upfront grants, loans and bursaries,” said Paterson. “If there are upfront grants available for students then that’s great news, but as far as we know the BC Government eliminated the provincial grants program in 2004 and has yet to reinstate it.”
Over the coming year, the Where’s the Funding?! campaign team will be organizing a wide range of campus events and getting students to directly contact Minister Yamamoto, asking the BC government for an immediate increase in funding to the post-secondary education system on a long-term basis.
Where’s The Funding?! is a joint-campaign organised by the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS), UBC Alma Mater Society (UBC AMS), Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) and Langara Students’ Union (LSU).
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