After reacting to Monday’s presentation of the Conservatives’ second federal budget with cautious applause, student groups are still hoping to find more cash for colleges and universities in the provincial budget, to be presented today.

“I’m hearing it will be a poverty budget,” said Scott Courtice, the executive director of student lobby group the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance.

“We expect that there’s something in the budget for students,” he said. “My concern is that they checked post-secondary education off their list two years ago,” when the McGuinty government released its $6.2-billion Reaching Higher plan.

Any new money for Ontario universities, Courtice speculated, will probably come in the form of increased operating grants. This will likely be routed by universities to address the double enrolment crunch they face this fall, he said.

Many Ontario universities are facing greater-than-forecast demand for undergraduate spots, even as they expand their graduate schools.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario released a new poll in which respondents identified inadequate financial aid and high tuition fees as their greatest concerns about access to post-secondary education.

“The government has clearly turned its back on Ontario’s families” said CFS-Ontario chairperson Jesse Greener.

Chris Bentley, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities, kept mum on Thursday’s budget.

“It appears the federal government is finally following Premier McGuinty’s lead in investing in post-secondary education and skills training,” was the most he would say.

Bentley was referring to the additional $800 million slated for colleges and universities in the Conservatives’ budget, starting next year. The money is earmarked for spending on the post-secondary sector through an agreement between the provinces and federal government, which is to be hammered out over the coming months.

Student groups reacted well to Monday’s announcement. CFS national chairperson Amanda Aziz called it “a positive step,” but was also critical.

“It’s difficult to say that students will benefit,” she said. Concerning spending, she cautioned that “earmarking is one thing, but ultimately provinces have jurisdiction. Depending on who your premier is, you might or might not see a benefit from this money. There are no guarantees in place, even with this earmarking.”

CFS government relations coordinator Ian Boyko was less mild.

“It still leaves provinces $1 billion short, compared to where they were 15 years ago,” he claimed.

“And there’s not a single shining nickel for financial aid.”

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, another student union group, was concerned that the extra post-secondary education money will only start to flow in a year’s time-an eternity in politics-since the federal government needs to agree with provinces how the extra cash will be spent.

“I’m not necessarily buying their argument. What the hell have they been doing for the last year?” said CASA national director Phillippe Ouellette. Still, he was excited about the promised money.

“There’s nothing earmarked for education right now-that’s the big problem. It’s just a big pile of money with a big sticky-note on top saying, ‘Please spend this on post-secondary education’.”

In a press release on Tuesday, U of T congratulated the federal government on Monday’s budget. University president David Naylor greeted the feds’ promise of another 1,000 graduate scholarships as “very good news.”