Months before its tenth birthday, the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation has received its death notice. Unveiled by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty last Tuesday, the federal government’s Budget 2008 will scrap the CMSF, which gave need-based bursaries and merit-based scholarships. Its $350-million annual allowance, combined with the annual $138 million currently doled out in grants, will go towards the new Canada Student Grant Program.
While the creation of the national grant program has drawn cautious praise from student groups, critics panned the lack of major student financial aid reforms hinted at last year by Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development.
Though the grant system will reach more students—an estimated 100,000 more, for a total of 245,000 recipients—it has no new funding sources, so individual beneficiaries will see less cash. However, the funding for grants is set to increase each year, hitting $430 million by 2012-13.
“Although there wasn’t new money allotted, we were quite happy to see the student grant program,” said Amanda Aziz, national chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students. The CFS had campaigned for a merged grant program and the demise of the CMSF.
“We don’t want to see money spread more thinly, but the new framework they’ve announced is a good start,” Aziz said.
The new system, to kick off in fall 2009, will be income- rather than need-based, where recipients classified “middle-income” or “low-income” will get monthly grants of $250 or $100 respectively. In a departure from the CMSF, its successor will give money to students up-front and guarantee funding through every year of the student’s program.
After a year-long review, the Canada Student Loan Program will receive $123 million over four years, of which $74 million is to help students with loan repayment, though the report gave no details on how the assistance will be carried out. The money will also go towards an improved web site and more aid for married and part-time students.
Some student loan advocates were unimpressed. “The budget is a good thing for everyone except student loan borrowers,” said Julian Benedict, founder of the Coalition for Student Loan Fairness. “The grant program is going to be a help to reducing the debts of new borrowers in the system, but right now, the government has done nothing to address the sky-high interest rates on student loans.”
Small increases in research and development funding come with conditions. An increase of $80 million, or five per cent, allotted to three federal research granting councils has been earmarked for specific industries: automotive, manufacturing, and forestry and fishing.
Another $21 million will woo the world’s top scientists, creating up to 20 Canada Global Excellence Research Chairs, also in predetermined areas: health, the environment, natural resources and energy, and IT.
Jim Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, criticized the stipulations. “We appreciate the new research funding, but we’re extremely concerned that the federal government is increasingly targeting research funding rather than allowing the priorities to be established by the research community,” he said.
The government also has its eye on brilliant students: $25 million will go towards Canada Graduate Scholarships for the top 500 doctoral students at Canadian universities. The new scholarships, designed to lure international geniuses and hold on to domestic ones, have been compared to the U.S. Fulbright awards. Canadian recipients can also apply for an additional $6,000 stipend for studying abroad.
