Budget Submission - 2009
Budget Submission to the Government of New Brunswick
October 16, 2009
To view the Budget Submission, click here.
Developed by
Duncan Gallant, President
Jacob Baisley, VP Operations
Melissa Wah, VP External
Melissa Cormier, Executive Director
Pierre-Henri Marquis, Francophone Liaison
Members of the NBSA are
- La Fédération des étudiants et étudiantes du centre universitaire de Moncton (FÉÉCUM)
- Mount Allison Students’ Administrative Council (Mt.A SAC)
- University of New Brunswick Student Union (UNBSU)
- Association générale des étudiants et étudiantes de l’université de Moncton campus Edmundston
(AGÉÉ UMCE)
- St. Thomas University Students’ Union (STUSU)
- Association étudiante de l’Université de Moncton, campus de Shippagan (AÉUMCS)
- Association étudiante du collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick campus Dieppe (CCNB-Dieppe)
Executive Summary:
In last year’s budget, the Government of New Brunswick took great strides to improve conditions for students in the province. The government implemented the Timely Completion Benefit Program, harmonized the repayment system for the provincial portion of student loans with the Federal Repayment Assistance Plan, and set aside three billion dollars for grants to improve the accessibility of post secondary education and under represented students. When these initiatives were announced the New Brunswick Student Alliance described the summation of these advances as the most progressive and comprehensive improvements to the Student Financial Aid system in the province’s history. The New Brunswick Student Alliance (NBSA) commends the Government of New Brunswick for these achievements and urges the government to build upon this momentum. Although the initiatives in last year’s budget will help many students, even still, there are still many students in the province that are disadvantaged in the current system and urgently require the government’s assistance.
The NBSA urges the Government of New Brunswick to make the Timely Completion Benefit Program more accessible to students. By providing debt relief through grants on an annual basis, as opposed to after completion of a program, the government can help students while they are in their studies and when they need help the most. Students who take a year or more off between years of study will still qualify under the TCB if they finish their program in the required years of study, but they will receive little help during the course of their program and if they are required to take a year off for extenuating circumstances. The most effective way to guarantee affordability in post secondary education is to provide debt relief up front and on an annual basis so students are guaranteed to receive funding when the need it.
The NBSA also urges the government to increase funding to post secondary institutions by 5% of their tuition levels so they can afford to cover increased operating costs without having to transfer the burden to students through tuition or ancillary fee increases or through reductions to student services or academic initiatives. Over the last two years the government has frozen tuition levels and provided institutions with an annual 5% increase of their undergraduate tuition. Now that the freeze will no longer continue, it is imperative that the government continue to increase funding to institutions so they can continue to offer high quality education without increasing the burden to students.
Now that there are several new initiatives aimed at making post secondary education more assessable to students, it is important for the government to review how these initiatives work together and develop a strategy on where to go from here. The NBSA urges the Government of New Brunswick to conduct a study on how the initiatives in place are working and where and why gaps still exist. These students are counting on the government to come through for them, so all residents of New Brunswick can have the same opportunity to succeed.
The Importance of Post Secondary Education:
In today’s knowledge based economy, a properly trained and educated work force is vital for any region’s prosperity. The Government of New Bruswick has laid out an ambitious plan towards self sufficiency and in today’s tough economic times, investment in the province’s work force is the best tactic to insure New Brunswick is able to weather the current economic storm and emerge as a competitive force in the national and global economy.
Research shows that 70% of new jobs created in the next decade will require some form of post secondary education (M. Lapointe et al 2006). Research also shows that and educated population lives longer, healthier, has less crime and is more likely to participate in political processes (Riddell 2006).
A researcher from Quebec noted that the amount of taxes paid increases with the educational attainment in the province. Additionally, he indentified a public rate of return of 8.5 percent (Demers 2008).
An aging and retiring workforce also looms in the near future and is something that requires to government to plan well in advance for. As the baby boomer generation begins to retire the amount of new workers needs to be increased. Increased numbers of highly skilled and innovative thinkers are required to help maintain New Brunswick current level of government services and to help bring prosperity to New Brunswick.
The boundless opportunity created through education is something the province and its people must take great care in preserve and build upon. This is essential in order to build a pathway to self-sufficiency and prosperity.
Recommendation 1) Make the Timely Completion Benefit Program more accessible.
Due to the fact that a large number of students will not be able to utilize the Timely Completion Benefit Program, the NBSA urges the Government of New Brunswick to make Timely Completion Benefit program more accessible to students. This should be done by disbursing grants on an annual basis rather than at the end of a student’s program and capping student debt annually. This type of distribution will help students who have to abruptly leave their program for extenuating circumstances. This way they will access debt relief without having to wait until they re-enter the system and complete their degree.
For example, a student leaves their program before the start of their fourth year to take care of a family member. After doing this for two years they re-enter the post secondary system and begin the fourth year of their program. The student graduates and completes their degree in four years of study and is thereby eligible for the Timely Completion Program (TCB). However, this student will have entered into repayment on their loan in between their third year of study and their fourth and will start payment on their interest on their loan total prior to having their loan total reduced by the TCB program. These types of students have little support from the student financial system during their time of study and during their time of need. If the program was distributed on an annual basis, the student mentioned above would have had their loan reduced for each year of study while she was in the program. Because aid is given to the student up front, if they are required to leave their program for extenuating circumstances they receive their funding when they need it and without the complication of application processes and going through the appeals.
The title of the Timely Completion Benefit program identifies the goal of trying to encourage students to finish their programs on time, this goal will still be attainable with and annual dispersement model, as shown by recent research by the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Their research shows students who have debt loads higher than $7000 annually; actually have lower completion rates than students with lower debt amounts. Therefore, by reducing debt on an annual basis for students and by reducing student debt the program will be able to increase completion rates and allow students to receive funding when they need it.
Restrictions limit the cost for these changes by limiting the years of student the student can access the grants for each program. This could be done by only allowing students to use the program for up to 5 years for their program. This would ease concerns that would arise of the cost and unlimited termed program might have. However, this program must be accompanied by a provision to allow for extenuating circumstances that students might encounter. Students attempting to overcome physical or mental disabilities and students with dependents need to be given proper flexibility and support so they can have the resources they require to succeed.
Recommendation 2) Increase funding for post secondary institutions.
The tuition freeze in place by the provincial government included increasing funding for institutions by the amount of 5% of their undergraduate tuition level. Now that this freeze will no longer continue, the NBSA urges the Government of New Brunswick to continue to increase the funding levels for post secondary institutions because of the increasing operational costs.
Operating costs continue to increase every year with the cost of heat, food, and other necessities. Contracts with faculty members and other administrative staff include salary increases that institutions are required to accommodate within their operating budgets.
If these costs are not covered by an institution’s funding from government, the burden will undeniably be transferred to students through increased tuition or ancillary fees, or through cuts to academic related initiatives.
The NBSA urges the Government of New Brunswick to continue to increase operating grants to post secondary institutions by 5%.
Recommendation 3) Review Accessibility in NB and develop strategy to improve accessibility.
The NBSA commends the Government of New Brunswick for increasing grants aimed towards increasing accessibility to post secondary education.
Three million dollars were set aside in the last provincial budget to go towards improving access to post secondary education.
There is also new research coming out from the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation in regards to grants, and directing information to parents of high school students, and directly to high school students themselves.
A new federal grant program in place called the Canadian Student Grant Program which provides several underrepresented groups in post secondary.
The NBSA feels that now is the opportune time for the government to develop a road map of where the provinces stands in terms of access to post secondary and where it is still in need of further improvement.
The NBSA urges the provincial government to review programs in place that are directed towards increasing access to post secondary education and discover where and why gaps still occur.
We know that historically aboriginal students are three times less likely to attend post secondary education, compared to a student from a high income background. We also know that low income students, students from single parent families, and students whose parents do not have a post secondary credential are also less likely to attend post secondary education, among others.
The province needs a New Brunswick specific strategy to reach out to under represented groups and provide them with the opportunity to succeed at the post secondary level.
Conclusion:
The Government of New Brunswick has taken great strides in Student Financial Aid in the past year. The students of New Brunswick urgently need the government to continue with its momentum and help those students who are still disadvantaged even with these improvements.
The NBSA urges the government to make the Timely Completion Benefit Program eligible to more students by providing up front grants on an annual basis. This way the government will be able to help students afford a post secondary education.
The Government of New Brunswick is also urged to increase funding to post secondary institutions so to cover the increasing operating costs. The NBSA urges the government to increase funding by 5% so to minimize the impact increasing operating costs will have on students.
Finally, research must be conducted on the current initiatives in place aimed at increasing accessibility. The NBSA urges the provincial government to review the current programs in place, both provincially and federally, and to access where and why gaps still occur in the system. Under-represented students are counting on help from the government to provide them with the opportunity to succeed at the post secondary level.
Contact Information:
The NBSA is available during regular business hours from its head office located on the University of New Brunswick Campus in Fredericton.
Our Executive Director maintains our operation and facilitates communication between the members of our Executive and Board of Directors across the province.
References:
• Demers, Marius. 2008. Rate of Return on a Bachelor’s Degree: For Individuals and for the State. Education Statistics Bulletin No. 38. Quebec City: Government of Quebec.
• M. Lapointe et al., Looking-Ahead: A 10-Year Outlook for the Canadian Labour Market (2006-2015) (Ottawa: Human Resources and Social Development Canada, 2006). Accessed October 12, 2009.
• Riddell, W. Craig. 2006. The Impact of Education on Economic and Social Outcomes: An
Overview of Recent Advances in Economics. Ottawa: Canadian Policy Research Networks.
