On August 25th, The Honourable Monte Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development announced the changes at Kitchener’s Pathways to Education Program.

“Because of the changes our Government has introduced, the dream of a post secondary education will be open to every Canadian regardless of their level of income,” said Minister Solberg. “What a tremendous opportunity for students and for their potential, and what a powerful advantage for Canada.”

The changes in student financial assistance programs include a new up-front Canada Student Grant of $250 per month for students from low-income families and $100 per month from students from middle-income families; a new repayment plan to help students who are having difficulty paying back their student loans, as well as improved services for students to simplify the whole loan process; and greater support for students with permanent disabilities.

“Minister Solberg’s commitment to help improve access for low and middle-income students and the government’s new initiative to help relieve student debt is reassuring for those who are faced with the burden of such barriers,” said Zach Churchill, National Director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.

By creating this plan to improve access to post-secondary education, the federal government has “opened doors‟ for a portion of students in Canada. That said, there are still groups that remain largely underrepresented in the current PSE system, such as Aboriginal students, rural students, first generation learners and students with disabilities.

As the CSGP is solely income-based, students from other under-represented groups, including those who received funding from the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF), may no longer be eligible to receive assistance. Aboriginal learners and rural students, for example, will no longer have access to targeted non-repayable grants.  Further, by cutting all of the needs-based funding formerly provided by the CMSF, many students will find themselves with little or no support when trying to manage their debt loads.  Needs-based assistance has played a vital role in helping students to complete their post-secondary education, as well as meaningfully participate in the economy upon graduation. Studies have shown that the more debt students take on, the less likely they are to finish their programs. In order to be truly accessible, financial assistance programs for higher education must address the issues of high student debt and target those with the greatest need. Considering that the average student graduates with over $25,000 worth of debt, any effective federal grant program must address both access and persistence, by providing a mix of both income and needs-based grants.  

There is additional concern that unlike the CMSF, the new CSGP will not contain a research component. Research is an essential component of informed policy decisions. Without a third party research component, the government will not have the necessary tools to evaluate the success rate of the program or develop new and innovative approaches to student financial aid. It is CASA’s position that this research element is of great importance, and that the federal government must work to address the existing knowledge gap in understanding barriers to access by allocating funds to establish a national research program on post-secondary education issues. 

The University of Lethbridge is a proud member of The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. There website can be found here

You can find the HRSDC release at this link

Brodie