Thousands of debts reduced

More funding for tuition means more happy students

MICHAEL OLSON STAFF

Bursaries funded by the Manitoba government and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation will reduce the debts of more than 4,700 post-secondary students in Manitoba this year.

The student-debt reduction program is made up of jointly financed bursaries from both the provincial government and the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Dependant students from low-income families receiving this financial aid are provided up to 50 per cent of their tuition up to $3,000. Independent Aboriginal students’ tuition is covered up to $4,000 through the program.

“This year we combined the two bursaries to increase administrative efficiency,” said Kimberley Hueber, operations director for Manitoba Student Aid.

Students will be able to further gain from the fact that the Manitoba government will not tax bursaries and scholarships.

“Most of our population is centred in Winnipeg, and to a lesser extent, Brandon, and that is where our post-secondary institutions are,” said Hueber. “It is our belief that most students (in Manitoba) are able to live at home while they’re going to school . . . so their costs are minimized — that doesn’t happen as much in other jurisdictions where a lot of students have to relocate to go to school.”

With the exception of Quebec, university students in Manitoba have the lowest student debt levels in Canada, after remissions.

“Our government has honoured its commitment to make postsecondary education accessible and affordable for more Manitobans,” said Diane McGifford, minister of advanced education and literacy, in a news release.

After the 2005-06 school year, through loan reduction provided by the two bursaries, over 4,700 students received an average remission bursary of nearly $4,000.

In the past, the maximum loan students could acquire was $9,350 per 34-week program. This past year, the federal government increased the value of loans that students could get to $11,900, thus increasing the amount of debt a student could acquire. “With these bursaries, however, we were able to mitigate against that substantially increased debt load,” said Hueber.

In 2005-06, the combined remissions reduced student loans to an average of $6,400 per 34-week program.

“It’s reassuring to know that student debts are being kept in check in Manitoba,” said Miria Dawn, a second-year student at the University of Winnipeg, “because paying off mountains of loans can be a really daunting task for students.”

“To that [debt reduction], I say super-duper,” jokes Charles Roy, a first-year student at the University of Manitoba. “I don’t really have student debts, but it’s good to know that if I did, they wouldn’t be that high.”

The student-loan reduction program is worth about $18 million per year: $10.7 million from the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation, and $8.1 million from the provincial government.

The Millennium Scholarship Foundation bursary was established in 1999, and the Manitoba Student Aid bursary in 2000.