Here is NDP MP Denise Sevoie's private member's bill aimed at modernizing the student loan programme. Some of it is pretty vague, but it is hoped it will spark a debate about the issue. Given that the NDP's 29 votes are the difference between a pass or fail vote in the House, they may have more influence than ever...
Mark, you may wish to review this for the petition...
STUDENTS FIRST: The NDP’s Vision for Post-Secondary Education in Canada
The NDP believes that post-secondary education is a public good, and that lower tuition, less debt, more faculty and better resources equal greater opportunity for today’s students.
An NDP government would put students first by prioritizing accessibility and quality in its post-secondary education policy:
1. Adequately increase federal transfers for post-secondary education, so that every province can freeze or roll back tuition, as well as re-invest in areas to enhance quality (hiring and retaining faculty and staff, equipment, resources, infrastructure) according to its particular needs and the needs of its students.
Federal cash transfers for post-secondary education, as a percentage of GDP, have declined steadily over the past 23 years of Liberal-Conservative government:
Ø 1983-84 – 0.56%
Ø 1992-93 – 0.41%
Ø 2004-05 – 0.19%
Average undergraduate tuition in Canada is $4,347, up 153% since 1991-92, with remarkable discrepancy across provinces:
Ø Quebec — $1,916
Ø Manitoba — $3,338
Ø Nova Scotia — $6,571
Ø Ontario — $5,160
2. Create a comprehensive federal student grant system to offset Canada student loans in every year of study and increase access for low- and middle-income students.
By eliminating the Canada Education Savings Program and the Textbook Tax Credit, which disproportionately benefit wealthier Canadians, we can double the current amount of federal student grants. The new student grant system would offer an average $1,500 grant to every Canada Student Loan borrower in every year of study, while enhancing grant programs targeted toward access for students from underrepresented groups (see below for costing).
Together with more affordable tuition and existing federal grant funding, this revenue-neutral plan would increase access for to reduce average student debt by 25%, while more fairly benefiting those students and families in greatest need – including middle-income families for whom tuition is increasingly unaffordable.
To address the expiry of the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation in 2009, the NDP urges the government to immediately adopt the following three-point plan to ensure that CMSF funding remains in the student aid system as non-repayable grants:
1. Roll the full amount of the current CMSF budget into a national system of needs-based grants administered by HRSDC, with a long-term funding commitment from the federal government, fully implemented for the 2009/10 academic year;
2. Instruct HRSDC to complete a full study of the CMSF experience no later than January 31, 2008, to determine and implement any best practices and lessons learned in order to enhance access to post-secondary education and reduce student debt; and
3. Undertake consultation and negotiation with the provinces and territories in the 2008 calendar year to ensure that the new national grant system meets the particular needs of their students and does not lead to the clawback of existing provincial and territorial student aid programs
3. Overhaul the Canada student loan system to be more flexible, fair, and responsive to the needs of student borrowers.
Federal-provincial coordination of student loan programs remains far from seamless. In coordination with the provinces, the federal government should seek to simplify and enhance the current student financial assistance system.
To begin, our First Five improvements to the Canada Student Loan system would be to:
1. Increase the simplicity, transparency, efficiency, and positive client service of Canada student loans system by de-privatizing administration and collection and returning those mandates to HRSDC with sufficient administrative funding to accomplish the goals cited above. Create an on-line accounting system to provide up-to-date information for student borrowers about loan and payment amounts, due dates, and information.
2. Increase regulatory flexibility with respect to debt reduction, interest relief, and permanent disability programs, such that individual circumstances are taken into better account. Hire more case staff to make those determinations.
3. Amend the regulations of the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act such that student loans are not repayable until six months after the completion of full-time studies, including doctoral programs and medical residency. Currently, at the expiry of the 400-week “lifetime limit” on Canada student loans, students may receive no new loans and must begin repayment, regardless of their full-time status. Our amendment would make the lifetime limit apply only to receipt of student loans, not repayment, allowing students to complete their studies / residency before repaying their loans.
4. Amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to reduce the minimum period after which a student can seek bankruptcy protection for her student loans from the current ten years to two.
5. Extend interest relief for up to one year for volunteer placements or non-university-based internships, which are often required for many modern careers.
4. Enact the NDP’s Canada Post-Secondary Education Act, which would guarantee accountable, stable federal transfers for PSE, and enshrine the principles of accessibility and quality for Canadian students in a public, not-for-profit post-secondary education system.
As we have seen with public child care, simple agreements between governments are easily abandoned when new governments are elected. In February, the NDP introduced its Canada Post-Secondary Education Act, akin to the Canada Health Act, to protect affordable, accessible, quality, public post-secondary education for generations to come.
Background Notes and Stats
The Liberals cut over $2 billion from post-secondary education in the 1990s, and slowly added a convoluted patchwork of so-called “student assistance” – tax credits and savings schemes that disproportionately benefit high-income families. The Conservatives have perpetuated this system with the Textbook Tax Credit and raising the student debt ceiling in Budget 2006
Why cut the Canada Education Savings Program?
Students and their families need financial assistance when tuition is due, not when they are six years old, and not six months later off their taxes
· Through the Liberals’ Canada Education Savings Program, the government gives $634 million a year to families that can already afford to save for their children’s education, compared with under $200 million for direct grants to students and their families who are paying tuition right now
· Our plan would not eliminate the RESP program allowing families to save for their children’s education if they can afford it; but for those who cannot, we think it’s best to allocate federal grants directly when it’s needed.
· The average lost benefit of the NDP plan is $6,000 per student, with those reaping above that average being wealthier Canadians. The average gain of the NDP plan would be $6,000 per student, with those reaping above the average benefit being lower-income Canadians.
· The Conservatives have perpetuated this approach – their Textbook Tax Credit spends $135 million a year to offer one free textbook to every student regardless of income level.
Enrolment rate for dependent 18-24 year-olds from families with income:
· over $100,000 — 50.9%
· under $40,000 — 31.1%
Investment is needed to address gross inequities in access to post-secondary education across Canada’s provinces. Average undergraduate tuition, 2006-07: in Canada is $4,347, up 153% since 1991-92:
· Canada — $4,347 (296.9% of 1990-91 level)
· Quebec — $1,916 (211.9%)
· Manitoba — $3,338 (220.8%)
· Nova Scotia — $6,571 (338.6%)
· Ontario — $5,160 (307.1%)
· British Columbia — $4,960 (274% of 1990-91 level; 196.3% of 2001-02 level)
The most significant investment in core funding for access to post-secondary education was in the NDP budget of 2004:
· $1.5 billion in Liberal corporate tax cuts were replaced with $1.5 billion for provinces to use to enhance access to post-secondary education
· The Conservatives betrayed the spirit of this funding by cutting it and tying it to university infrastructure spending
Doubling student grants: how it would work:
Current federal spending for non-repayable grants (2004-05) http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn1 - -
Canada Access Grants http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn2 - - [2]
for Students from Low-Income Families 35.5
for Students with Permanent Disabilities 17.1
Canada Study Grants http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn3 - - [3] 64.5
(students with dependents, high-need part-time,
women pursuing doctoral degrees)
Millennium Scholarship Foundation http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn4 - - 300.9
Canada Graduate Scholarships http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn5 - - 52.4
Total 470.4
Funding to be shifted to grants
Canada Education Savings Program (forecast 2006-07) http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn6 - - 634.2
Textbook Tax Credit (forecast 2006-07) http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn7 - - [7] 135
Total 769.2
Number of students benefiting from Canada Student Loans
(2004-05) http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn8 - - [8] 455,000
Average grant available for up to 500,000 Canada Student Loans borrowers
Per year $1,500
For four-year degree $6,000
-----------------------------
Average four-year grant under NDP Three-Step Strategy $6,000
Income group receiving federal funding above the average:
Low-income Canadians
Average benefit from Canada Education Savings Program (lifetime)
and Textbook Tax Credit (four-year), assuming fifteen-year
savings http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftn9 - - [9] $6,075
Income group receiving federal funding above the average:
High-income Canadians
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 20, 2007
TACKLE STUDENT DEBT CRISIS FIRST: SAVOIE TO SOLBERG
NDP says affordability, accessibility and quality of post-secondary education must take priority for new Human Resources Minister
OTTAWA – Students struggling to pay for soaring tuition and crippling debt must be the first priority in post-secondary education for new Human Resources Minister Monte Solberg. Denise Savoie (Victoria), the federal NDP’s Post-Secondary Education Advocate, said today that NDP solutions would go a long way in fixing the problems facing average students.
“Canada’s growing prosperity gap is rooted in increasingly unequal access to post-secondary education,” said Savoie. “While wealthier Canadian families receive the lion’s share of tax cuts and credits, tuition has become unaffordable for low- and middle-income families, and graduates are smothered under their student debt as they begin their careers.”
“A one-time drop in the bucket or a tax transfer won’t solve chronic federal under funding or unequal access across provinces.” Savoie outlined a plan to tackle the student debt crisis: first, a substantial increase in federal transfers so that provinces can freeze or roll back tuition and re-invest in faculty and resources.
Second, Savoie called for a comprehensive federal student grant system, coordinated with the provinces, to replace the current patchwork of federal grants cobbled together by successive Liberal and Conservative governments.
“Today’s students have enough on their minds without facing a convoluted mess of student assistance,” said Savoie. “Student debt continues to soar, and countless low- and middle-income Canadians are left behind by the system. Let’s make student aid simpler and more effective.”
An immediate priority must be to guarantee that the funding for the expiring Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF) is seamlessly rolled into the comprehensive student grant system.
“We have a short timeframe before the end of the CMSF mandate in 2009,” said Savoie. “This government’s first priority must be to plan ahead and ensure that those dollars remain in the student aid system as non-repayable, needs-based grants. Education must be affordable for today’s students.”
Savoie presented a three-point plan to address the expiry of the CMSF in 2009, including incorporating lessons learned from the foundation’s work into the new grant system, and coordinating with provinces to ensure that all students’ needs are met and provincial grant programs are not clawed back.
The plan complements the NDP’s strategy to double the amount of federal student grants by cancelling two federal programs that disproportionately benefit wealthier families, in order to reduce average student debt in Canada by at least 25%.
-30 –
For more information:
Office of Denise Savoie, (613) 996-2358
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref1 - - [1] Library of Parliament
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref2 - - [2] First year of study only; would be rolled into new grant system under Three Step Strategy
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref3 - - [3] Would stay intact
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref4 - - [4] Could be rolled into new grant system upon expiration of CMSF mandate in 2009
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref5 - - [5] Would remain intact
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref6 - - [6] Human Resources and Social Development RPP, 2006-07
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref7 - - [7] Budget 2006
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref8 - - [8] Human Resources and Social Development DPR 2004-05
http://www.canadastudentdebt.ca/RTE_textarea.asp?mode=new&POID=0&ID=557#_ftnref9 - - [9] The average number of years that parents save under the CESP is unknown, since the program began in 1998. Assuming a high average of fifteen years, the calculation is as follows: average amount of Canada Education Savings Grant in 2005-06, according to Government response to Q-81, 39th Parliament ($257) times fifteen years equals $3,855. Add fifteen years of Canada Learning Bond (for low-income Canadians only, $500 initial grant plus $100 each subsequent year = $1,900), plus Textbook Tax Credit of $80 times four years equals $6,075.