C7

Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

1 Comment(s)

In times of great economic turmoil, the best investment is still an education.

But getting an education is still a very expensive proposition, one students across the province sought to remind politicians of during several protests last week.

Student debt has been a perennial topic of discussion and political debate for a few decades now, and while some positive changes have been made, the system is far from perfect.

Right now in New Brunswick, university students can get a $2,000 tuition credit after their first year for attending university within the province.

As well, Premier Shawn Graham quickly fulfilled an election promise two years ago by eliminating the parental contribution - the amount of money parents are expected to contribute to their child's education - on N.B. student loans.

And under the New Brunswick Tuition Rebate program, university and college graduates who live in New Brunswick after graduation can apply to have up to $10,000 of their education costs returned to them.

While all those measures do help, they do not necessarily target those who need help the most. For example, every New Brunswicker who goes to university here for a year gets the $2,000 credit, not just the more needy ones.

Students, however, have come up with some innovative ideas for tackling the issue of student debt that are worth a second look.

One is to get rid of the tuition rebate and credit programs and use that money to fund what they call a student loan cap of $6,000 a year. That means no student would graduate with more than $24,000 in student loans at the end of a four-year program.

Right now, New Brunswick university graduates earn their degrees with an average of $34,000 in loans, exactly $10,000 more than the national average.

Some will argue that university tuition should be free and no one should have to get a student loan to get an education, but that is nothing more than fanciful thinking that will never be viable, particularly not for a province like New Brunswick.

To make university and college free would dramatically increase student enrollment, but many of them would be there because they could, not because they should be or want to be. What an administrative nightmare, not to mention an equally chaotic housing issue for students who quit by Thanksgiving or Christmas. It would be a colossal waste of money.

Post-secondary education cannot be free. It must still be worth working for, otherwise it loses its credibility and value.

However, funneling money to those who need it most by capping debt at $24,000 per undergraduate degree is a concept we urge the province to examine.

The students deserve at least a cost-benefit analysis from the province, to show true consideration of the student proposal and to encourage the partnership and attempt at problem solving by the next wave of leaders in this province.