Les frais de scolarité et la campagne électorale au Nouveau-brunswick

Je vais vous dire tout de go : j'ai sincèrement et malheureusement l'impression de m'être joyeusement faites avoir dans mon éducation post-secondaire à l'Université de Moncton. J'ai l'impression d'avour payer BEAUCOUP trop cher pour ce que j'ai reçu et chaque paiement de remboursement de mon prêt étudiant (et mes très nombreux problèmes de prêts étudiant) viennent renforcer ce sentiment à chaque deux semaines, quand j'envoie mon argent à une compagnie de crédit de la rue Jean-Talon.

Alors disons que la problématique des frais de scolarité et la situation de l'Université de Moncton me touche de près.

Ceci étant dit, les frais de scolarité étaient dans les manchettes aujourd'hui dans le cadre de la campagne électorale au Nouveau-Brunswick. Ces mesures ne sont pas assez malheureusement. Ça prendra beaucoup plus pour remonter la pente. Je ne suis vraiment pas impressionnée.

Je vous retranscris l'article du Times and Transcript :

Tuition plan tackles debt fear: Graham
While student group wants tuition cap, Liberal leader says that creates funding difficulties for universities
Mary Moszinski
with the Graham campaign
Liberal Leader Shawn Graham says his $20.5-million plan for post-secondary education means fewer students will pass-up an university education for fear of graduating with a crippling debt load.

Graham used St. Thomas University in Fredericton as the backdrop to unveil his party's plans for post-secondary education yesterday morning.

The Liberal leader promises to create a new scholarship fund which would give 1,000 students a $2,500 bursary, change the way student loans are assessed, and invest an additional $10 million for the province's tuition tax cash-back program.

Last week Graham also announced the Liberals would give a $2,000 grant to each New Brunswick student entering their first year in one of the province's four publicly-funded universities.

The new initiatives would cost an additional $20.5 million a year.

"Accessibility to our universities is going to be key to building a self-sufficient province," Graham said.

"We know that accessibility for first-year students is often a detriment to their decision to offer into university. However there's still the challenge of university students who are in the system."

The tuition tax back credit, introduced by the Conservatives last year, gives students up to $10,000 in tax credits if they choose to work in New Brunswick.

But Graham stressed that, unlike the Conservative measures, his plan will make university more accessible and helps students throughout their university years.

However a provincial student group has given Graham's announcement a failing grade.

Colin Banks, interim vice-president of the New Brunswick Student Alliance, said many students simply can't afford to complete their university degree.

Although the tax credits and scholarships announced by Graham offer some help to cash-strapped students, the real solution is capping tuition rates, he said.

"But in between, with the exception of 1,000 scholarships for students, there's nothing that will keep students here - that will keep them to want to be here. You have to regulate to keep them," he said.

"We want universities to be able to raise tuition - of course, that's a business - however we want it to be at such a level that students will be able to predict how much it's going to rise per year and not just as per the whims of the university."

But Graham says capping tuition isn't the answer.

"Capping tuition rates will cause a funding issue with the universities, it's not fixing the problem," he said.

"You're just delaying the problem and you're not dealing with the issue of accessibility."

A recent Statistics Canada report shows New Brunswickers pay the second-highest tuition rates in the country. The average full-time student will pay $5,328 in tuition this year. As well, tuition has increased by 38 per cent for New Brunswick students over the past five years.

New Brunswick students are also leaving university and college with some of the highest debt-loads in the country, with almost 25 per cent of students graduating owing more than $25,000.

However the Liberals' additional $10 million for the tuition cash-back program won't help community college students. Neither will the grants for first-year students or the new scholarship program.

"The Conservative program covers all private-sector institutions as well in the province of New Brunswick.

"We feel that university students graduating from a publicly-funded university are still grappling with a student debt load that is not comparable to other provincial jurisdictions," Graham said.

That's left Jacob Beal, president of the student union New Brunswick Community College Moncton campus, wondering where the province's college students fit into the Liberal plan.

"We always need money. Everyone's in debt," he said. "Are they forgetting about community college?"

Community colleges do have lower tuition rates than universities - about $2,600 a year. However, when books and living expenses are calculated, college students still have difficulty paying the bills, Beal added.

The second-year student, who is enrolled in the business administration accounting program at NBCC, said he would like to see additional scholarships and bursaries for college students.

The one aspect of the program Beal did praise was Graham's promise to eliminate parental and spousal incomes when assessing a student's eligibility for a loan.

Being told that he wouldn't qualify for a student loan because of his parents' income, Beal has been working since he was a teenager to cover the cost of his education.

"I've been working since I was 15 and I've been saving my money for my whole life for this," he said.

Graham said his party wants to focus on improving accessibility to community colleges. Earlier in the campaign the Liberals committed to creating 12,000 new spaces over the next five years at a cost of about $45 million.

About 2,000 eligible students are turned away from community colleges each year because there are not enough spaces, he added.

"Community college students today do face rising debt load issues and they will still be eligible for the tax relief under the existing program and we're also committed to increasing the seats in our community colleges which is where we feel we have to target today."