Student groups, universities lukewarm on N.S. tuition rebate

Rebate will not apply to students from other provinces

WILLIAM WOLFE-WYLIE CUP ATLANTIC BUREAU CHIEF

But universities and student groups, two groups whose goals are rarely unified, are saying that the move just isn’t enough.

Danielle Sampson said the tuition fee reduction, which won’t be available to student from other provinces studying in Nova Scotia, will affect too narrow a range of students to be effective.

“We’re disappointed that it’s only going to Nova Scotia students,” said Sampson, the Maritime organizer for the Canadian Federation of Students.

Charles Crosby, a spokesperson for Dalhousie University in Halifax, agreed. “It’s exclusive to Nova Scotia students and we see ourselves as a national institution.”

Sampson also pointed out Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald’s campaign promise in January 2006 to reduce tuition fees by $1,000 for all students.

According to Kevin Finch of the Nova Scotia Department of Education, the $440 credit is separate from the province’s larger university funding initiatives, which will see tuition fees in Nova Scotia reduced to the national average of $4,347 by the 2010-11 school year.

Currently, students in Nova Scotia pay the highest tuition fees in the country at an average of $6,571. The $440 credit will be applied to eligible students’ fee statements in January. An appeal process will also be established for those students who don’t receive credit but feel they should.

The initiative is a result of the transfer of $28.8 million from the federal Infrastructure Trust Fund to the province of Nova Scotia, and the product of Bill C-48, which was passed in the spring of 2005 during the turbulent downfall of the Liberal government. The Bill allows the federal government to spend up to $4.5 billion over the next two fiscal years on education.

Nova Scotia then passed Bill 207, which determined how the province’s share of the money would be spent. The $28.8 million will be available for the province to use over the next two years and will also provide a similar tuition fee reduction in September 2007.

How much September 2007 tuition will be reduced is currently unknown, said Finch, as it is dependent on the new federal budget’s provincial transfers.

The money was originally earmarked for infrastructure, not tuition fee relief, according to Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay.

“Post Secondary Education Infrastructure Trust will support investments for infrastructure and equipment, such as modernization of classrooms and laboratories, of up to $1 billion, of which up to $28.8 million will benefit post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia,” wrote MacKay on his Conservative Party website.

But it is the fact that the transfer came from the Infrastructure Trust Fund that has Dalhousie University, among others, asking more questions of the province.

According to Crosby, Dalhousie was informed only moments before the public announcement that the money would not be available for infrastructure.

“There will be some continued deferred maintenance on projects we had hoped to revisit now,” he said. While he admitted that there had been some discussion with provincial officials over these concerns, he said that Dalhousie administrators “haven’t officially petitioned the government.”

“Infrastructure is still a pressing concern,” said Crosby.

“They are definitely not pleased,” Sampson said of the universities, adding that she thought it was too bad that students and universities were forced against each other, “fighting for the scraps that the province is willing to throw us.”

For Sampson, however, the issue comes back to accessibility of education. While she is happy that the accessibility of post-secondary education is being discussed at the provincial level, she still argues that a dedicated transfer from the federal government is required in order to truly reduce the cost of a postsecondary education without hurting the quality of education.

Still, Sampson is hailing this announcement as a victory for students, claiming that until now the province wasn’t even addressing access as an issue of concern.