It’s just one part of a bigger plan to make post-secondary education accessible to all. The Liberals’ new tuition grant, that is.
While some students are excluded from new provincial funding, meant to cut 30 per cent of undergraduate tuition costs, it’s important to look at the new grant in context and in terms of its overall impact, said Deb Matthews, MPP for London North Centre.
Initially scheduled to speak on Western University’s campus, Matthews and Chris Bentley, MPP for London West, were at Sir Frederick Banting Secondary School Jan. 20, speaking to high school seniors about post-secondary funding opportunities available to them following graduation.
Matthews and Bentley effectively dodged some of the criticisms that arose following the grant’s implementation in early January, among them the grant criteria’s exclusion of graduate students, independent students and those not in good academic standing.
Matthews, who returned to school as a mature student – one who wouldn’t be eligible for the grant today – said she understands the issues behind such critiques.
“Because I was a student myself, I saw the impact of unaffordable post-secondary education. I had friends who were working full-time jobs and trying to go to school at the same time. They couldn’t do as well in school because they had to work to put themselves through school,” Matthews said.
“I saw that (students) who had the least advantages in life were actually the ones with the fewest opportunities. If they did get into college or university, they couldn’t stay or do as well because of financial burdens.”
And even though some of the students Matthews sympathized with during her studies wouldn’t be getting the new grant, she said the new funding isn’t the only thing the provincial government is doing to make education accessible.
“This grant is a huge infusion of support for students but the fiscal reality today is that we can’t do everything. We’ve been working very hard to make things balanced; we have to look at this program in context,” she said. She added the provincial government has worked to improve repayment assistance programs and to reduce the loan amount students have to pay back under the Ontario Student Assistance Program.
These initiatives came in the footsteps of many grants and bursaries already available to a variety of students, she said. “This (grant) is by far the most expensive item on our list of campaign promises. We had to say ‘no’ to a lot of people who wanted money for a lot of different things.”
A number of the programs are being cut to fund the grant, according to Joyce Kmith, Bentley’s constituency assistant. Included on that list are the Ontario Textbook and Technology Grant, Ontario Trust for Student Support and the Queen Elizabeth II Aiming for the Top scholarships.
Though these cuts are significant, the new grant ends up helping more students and provides more money, Matthews explained.
“High-quality education is expensive, but we’ve increased the amount of interest-free loans (students) can get to go to college and university. We’ve limited how much you have to pay back and we’ve brought back upfront student grants into the system,” Bentley said.
This is the greater context for the new tuition grant, Matthews said.
As for the varying totals mentioned following the grant’s initial announcement – tabs ranging from $201 million to $430 million – Matthews said they were estimates, with the low end reflecting the cost of the grant’s retroactive effect for the 2011-12 academic year.
Come September, the tab for the provincial government will be $423 million, added Kmith.
“This is our biggest campaign commitment,” Matthews said.