With only two weeks left in the campaign, the Liberals have unveiled their post-secondary platform in the hopes of garnering the youth vote.

Called the “50/50 Plan,” Paul Martin’s Liberals are pledging to help ease the burden of paying for post-secondary education for students by paying for half of an undergraduate student’s first-year tuition, and half of a student’s graduating-year tuition-for a maximum of up to $3,000 dollars.

Students pursuing an undergraduate degree in 2007-08 will have the choice to either subscribe to the new plan or draw benefits from the existing Tuition Tax Credit and Education Expense Deduction.

The announcement comes as a part of an overall strategy for post-secondary education which also includes the Lester Pearson Scholarships that will be used to give more opportunities for students to study abroad and will allow more international students to study in Canada.

Critics of the plan fear this strategy will not be enough to help students manage the rising costs of tuition.

“There’s no doubt that [this announcement] is an important change. Their perspective on financial aid and grants are good, but we still need protection from tuition fee increase,” said Jesse Greener, Ontario Chair Person for the Canadian Federation of Students.

Greener contends that without the promised increased transfer payments for post-secondary education, universities and colleges may feel they have the green light to increase tuition. In other words, even if the federal program provides grants, there is nothing to stop the province from letting tuition go up by $3,000.

“Lloyd Axworthy, president of the University of Winnipeg said this [announcement] would allow him to eliminate the tuition freeze because some of the cost [of tuition] would be offset because of these grants,” said Greener. Fearing the same fate for Ontario, Greener is hoping Martin will take his post-secondary policy one step further and allocate the $4 billion he has already promised in transfer payments to post-secondary institutions.

The Conservatives have not yet come out with a policy on post-secondary education. But with students in class during the election this year, the youth vote may have a greater impact than expected, and more policy announcements on education may yet be to come.