While student advocates and opposition legislators criticized the 2006 federal budget for a lack of vision and commitment to post-secondary institutions, the bill itself promises to help graduate students and scholarship winners. The budget passed a first vote last Wednesday.
“[Post-secondary education] was not part of their top five priorities,” charged Phillippe Ouellette, of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA). “They’ve obviously missed the mark.”
CASA, an Ottawa-based lobby group, argues that a “Canada Education Transfer” fund that would inject at least $4 billion a year into Canada’s post-secondary education system is the best way to improve colleges and universities.
NDP education critic Judy Wasylycia-Leis, member of parliament for Winnipeg North, largely concurred with Ouellette’s assessment.
“There are a few of these tax measures that help a bit-that’s better than nothing,” she said. “But by and large, it a continuation of the same approach, a hodge-podge of programs that are meant to replace the cash transfer approach.”
To Ouellette’s figure, Wasylycia-Leis replied that education transfer as low as $1.2 billion a year would make an impact right away.
“All we need right now is federal government agreement that it has a role to play in terms of cash transfers,” she continued. “And that if it’s really concerned about fiscal imbalance, it should be concerned by redressing that through increased amounts for education,” she said.
What is in the budget then? For starters, come July 1, commuter students will be able to start claiming tax credits on the cost of a Metropass-a full-time student taking transit for eight months may get as much as $124 in tax credits. Textbook tax credits are in there too: full-time students will be able to claim up to $65 per month in textbook costs. This could add up to an $80 return for a full-timer.
But, Asif Pirani, a fresh U of T medical school graduate, pointed out that medical students spend about $1,500 on non-textbook materials during their four years: stethoscopes, otoscopes, opthalmoscopes, and other equipment.
“Generally, people buy the stuff all at once,” said Pirani, during their first or second year. “It’s something I have to pay for because I’m in school, so I think it should be tax deductible,” he added.
Dentistry students have it even worse: their equipment costs run between $3,000 and $6,000 a year, according to their course calendar.
Another budget measure, which will make all grant and scholarship income non-taxable, promises to impact graduate students, such Tracy Tivell, a PhD candidate in the department of anthropology.
“I have an NSERC [research grant], and they give you $21,000 a year, but then you end up having to give five or six grand of that back in taxes,” she said. “So probably, over the last five years, I’ve had to give back $20,000 in taxes on my scholarships.”
Unfortunately for Tivell, she expects to defend her thesis by late fall, so the tax changes won’t affect her much. But other graduate students will surely be glad.
