DEAR EDITOR:
This week students are heading back to school at a cost. After 25 years of federal cuts to education, the share of university operating budgets funded by tuition fees has more than doubled, leaving the average B.C. university graduate with a debt of $27,000. Students today face the highest tuition fees in history, a cost that, for many, places post-secondary education out of reach.
Gone are the days when a student could work over the summer and finance his or her education with the proceeds.
Students today are taking on crippling debt in order to pursue higher education and the federal and provincial governments are doing little to help them.
British Columbia places last in the provision of non-repayable assistance and actually cut provincial grants in 2002.
We have an obligation to provide the next generation with the tools necessary to achieve their goals. As a New Democrat, I take that obligation seriously and will work with my caucus to invest in accessible, quality post-secondary education that ensures a strong future for Canada.
Fin Donnelly, MP, New Westminster-Coquitlam and Port Moody
