Declining debt

Student debt lower thanks to government bursaries

ROMER BAUTISTA STAFF

Students graduating from university or college in Manitoba are facing less debt now than they did in 2000, according to a report released by the Canada Millennium Scholarship Foundation (CMSF).

The report, “Lowering Student Debt: Explaining the Decline in the Debt of University Students in Manitoba,” shows that debt levels among graduating students are down 26 per cent between 2000 and 2006. Among students relying on government student loans to pay for their education, average debt decreased from approximately $20,000 in 1999-2000 to approximately $14,800 in 2005-06.

Debt levels decreased most dramatically between 2000 and 2003, according to the report, which coincides with the implementation of the CMSF Millennium Bursary, which was introduced in 1999-2000, and the Manitoba government’s own bursary program, which came into effect a year later.

“The greatest proportion of the reduction in debt among students in Manitoba is most likely the result of Millennium and Manitoba bursaries,” the report says.

As the report indicates, despite the fact that the number of students who receive one of the two bursaries has decreased since 2000, it has stayed proportional to the number of students who receive student loans in a given year.

The report also states that the value or the average bursary has gone up since 2000. The average Millennium bursary was $4,695 in 2005-06, up from $3,085 in the programs first year, while the average Manitoba bursary increased to $3,243 last year, from $2,584 in 2000-01.

“The fact that fewer students have relied on student loans in Manitoba since 2000 is a strong indication that those students most in need of debt reduction were more likely to receive a bursary, and to receive larger amounts as the years progressed,” states the report.

In addition to the two bursaries, the report also credits the province’s tuition freeze program as a factor in the reduction of student debt. “Over time the tuition freeze has further reduced the costs of tuition in real dollars, meaning that, in 2006, students were paying less than students paid five year earlier,” the report states.

The CMSF is a private, independent organization that was created in 1998 by an act of the Canadian Parliament. According to the CMSF website, the foundation has handed out over 21,000 bursary awards, totalling over $75 million in Manitoba. Of that, 10,744 of the bursaries — worth over $37 million — have gone to students seeking an education at the U of M.

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) has actively campaigned against the CMSF since its inception. The CFS website states: “Not only has the Millennium Scholarship Foundation been a failure in the implementation of its own program, it has now begun an aggressive campaign to justify higher student debt and higher tuition fees.”