Political theatre returns to Fredericton this week with the re-opening of the New Brunswick Legislature.
Local government reform, French immersion, fracking, health, the urban/rural divide, and the resilient provincial deficit will all be hotly debated, soliloquized, and maybe even sorted out by our esteemed MLAs this session.
Although it won’t gain as much ink as those controversial, divisive issues, David Alward’s PC government will be tackling another issue vitally important to many of you reading this: university funding.
Representatives of New Brunswick’s public universities, including St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, met with the department of post-secondary education, training, and labour (PETL) last weekend to discuss a new, multi-year funding agreement and each school’s vision for it.
Students weren’t at the talks.
This hasn’t gone without protest, particularly from the New Brunswick Student Alliance, a lobby group supported by seven students’ unions, including STU’s. Nor should it.
It’s part of a deeper, paternalistic trend that bodes poorly for students and, in the long run, the province.
Alward promised a new university funding agreement during last year’s election along with a four-year tuition schedule, saying this would make it easier for students to plan their educational funding.
His government made it harder for students to finance their educations in its first budget, however, by reinstating the parental contribution to provincial student loans – something the last Liberal government cut.
Parental contributions assume parents can and will finance their (now-adult) children’s post-secondary education.
What’s more, the province assumes the average New Brunswick parent can contribute more than an average parent elsewhere in Canada. Many
students have had to find money elsewhere or drop-out because their parent’s financial contribution plays a part in how much money they get from the government.
There was help for universities themselves in the last budget – university operating grants rose for the first time in two years and schools could raise tuition by $200.
That tuition hike, however, added to what were already the second-highest average tuition costs in Canada.
The NBSA and students’ unions complained then and they’re demanding a seat at the table now.
It’s not the only thing they want, but some of their other asks – a six per cent increase to operating grants and freezes on tuition and ancillary fees – have a realistic shot at being taken seriously only if they can bring them directly to the table.
Marie-Josee Groulx, a spokeswoman for the department of post-secondary education, training and labour, told The Daily Gleaner last weekend’s meetings would focus on visions for the funding plan. She added that while students aren’t involved in this particular process at this time, they’ll be involved before a decisions is made.
We, students, should be involved in the whole process. Not only are we among the beneficiaries of New Brunswick’s public universities, but we’re also collectively their largest financiers, after the province.
Twenty-eight per cent of our universities’ revenue come from tuition and fees – only Ontario and Nova Scotia students foot a higher percentage of its universities’ bills.
Bringing students to the table engages young people – a demographic this province, with its rapidly ageing population, desperately needs to sustain. It gives us a chance to make the case not only for attracting students from elsewhere and getting them to stay, but for keeping New Brunswickers from leaving the province, possibly for good, for education.
It also gives the province a chance to treat students as adults. We can vote, serve in the military, earn a criminal record, and get married without parental consent.
We shouldn’t be relegated to the kiddie table when we want to discuss the future of institutions we’re devoting such time and money to.
