On October 28, parliament officials proposed new legislative changes to Bill C-5 concerning postsecondary tuition, The Canadian Education Savings Act. The bill proposes to provide each baby born in Canada with a $300 savings bond as a foundation to finance their education that will-with proper interest-amount to a maximum of $3,000 around the time they are ready to enrol in a postsecondary institution. The government believes this will provide a sound financial foundation for all Canadian students and allow them educational opportunities they might not otherwise have.
Some, however, have wondered publicly if Bill C-5 is the best way of spending the average taxpayer’s money and if it is the most practical solution to university funding.
James Kusie, National Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, said that he is “skeptical that the accelerated model will have any effect in ten to 15 years.”
If tuition continues to rise at its current rates, he said, tuition will likely be much more expensive than it is today. The government, Kusie said, should provide opportunities for “low-income students for not only the first year but for all years of study.”
In its current form, Bill C-5 would provide a 40 per cent matching grant for low-income families and a 30 per cent grant for high-income families (those that earn between $35,000 and $75,000). Kusie criticized the matching percentages, and said that it would be much easier for a high-income family to save $3,000 a year while a low-income family would struggle to save that amount. Only the high-income families are able to save, he said, and so the government is neglecting the poorest group of people they are trying to help.
“Get students in the door now,” Kusie said. “It will cost the government $410 million over the next 11 years to fund this new program, while it would only cost half of that (roughly $240 million) to fund all years of student study for low-income students through grants.
