Just Recovery for All: Just Education for All: Canadian Federation of Students Ontario 2021 Provincial Lobby Week Français
TORONTO, March 1, 2021 /CNW/ - This week, post-secondary education students from across Ontario will be meeting MPPs to discuss our recommendations for a Just Recovery for All: Just Education for All. The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply exacerbated pre-existing issues within post-secondary education in Ontario. Yet, the predicaments faced by students have been too easily ignored. Students have done their part but are still waiting over a year later for the much-needed support.
Ontario has some of the highest tuition fees in the country and in 2019, when there was a $670 million cut to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), over 34,000 students became ineligible for financial aid as a result of these cuts. The current eligibility guidelines to OSAP also create a financial barrier for many international, graduate, mature and part-time students in receiving fair access to financial assistance. Students are further concerned and impacted by the pandemic as minimal financial relief has been provided to them during the pandemic given the rising cost of post-secondary education thereby significantly increasing their debt loads.
"Students need a strong partner in the provincial government who will listen to their lived realities and who they can work together with," said National Executive Representative Kayla Weiler. "It is time for the Ontario government to demonstrate how much they value education and are willing to support students now and as we move forward through the pandemic."
High quality, well-funded, and accessible post-secondary education is an essential precondition for Ontario to flourish post-pandemic. There is no reconstructing our provincial economy without students. Students need tangible, meaningful action, and they need it now.
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario is the oldest and largest student organization in Ontario, representing over 350,000 college and university students in every region of the province.
Quick Facts:
- Compared to the rest of the country, undergraduate tuition fee levels in Ontario are an astounding 58% higher than the average for the rest of Canada. Ontario has the lowest per student public funding for post-secondary education. Yet, for every $1.00 invested in higher education by Canadian governments, the economic value added to the Canadian economy is $1.36.
- This years' college and undergraduate student graduates could lose $25,000 to $44,000 over the next five years due to the pandemic and these losses are compounded by the average debt load of post-secondary graduates which is at least as large. It takes 9.5 years on average to repay student debt currently, and this figure is likely to rise.
SOURCE Canadian Federation of Students
or to set up an interview contact: Michael Butler, Government Relations and Policy Coordinator, at [email protected] or 437-771-2129
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