education: Liberals slash education funding
Brodie Ramin, Staff Writer

The loss of more than 10,000 student jobs and a profound increase in tuition fees are among the expected impacts of cuts to provincial government spending on higher education in British Columbia.

Although student leaders and university administrators have warned of tuition increases since the Liberals first took office, the elimination of student jobs caught them off guard. "A huge part of [the Liberal's] election campaign was improving unemployment and now they're getting rid of these employment opportunities. I truly did not expect them to cut these programs," said Summer McFadyen, chair of the Canadian Federation of Students. The largest programs to be eliminated are Student Summer Works and the Work Study grants. The Ministry of Advanced Education service plan, which enumerates the planned cuts, lists Student Summer Works as "a subsidy to business" and Work Study as a "non-core program."

Other non-core programs that will be eliminated include Skills for Employment, Graduate Apprenticeships, Institutional Based Training Support, College and Institute Matching Endowment, and Training Assistance Benefits.

"At first we weren't sure because they said health and education are protected," said Britta Jensen, Simon Fraser Student Society president. "But then we looked at what they did to healthcare, which was destroy Pharmacare, destroy eye-care, totally overhaul what's covered by your basic premium coverage, and somehow that still falls under protecting healthcare. So the minute we saw them doing that we said, okay, we guess education isn't protected either."

Jensen says that the Liberal's intentions for post-secondary education were "made clear with their freeze of the budget which isn't protective at all...it's a cut."

In order to keep funding levels constant in real terms, the government would need to increase funding at a level rate with inflation. This forces universities to find alternative sources of revenue, such as increased tuition. At SFU, an estimated base budget shortfall of 5 to 10 per cent per annum will have to be offset if the university is to balance its books.

Anita Zaenker, national executive representative of the CFS says, "the writing is on the wall. The budgets are frozen and we already know that institutions have had a difficult time with current funding levels being what they are. It is our expectation that the government will increase tuition fees. The questions we need to be asking them are: What amount? And at what costs to accessibility?"

Student organisations across B.C. are virtually unanimous in their opposition to a tuition increase, arguing that such a move would compromise the quality and accessibility of higher education. Jensen says the total number of students in Ontario has not declined since fees went up, but the number of students from lower-income backgrounds has decreased significantly, while entrance requirements have also been decreasing.

Furthermore, Jensen argues that quality of education isn't enhanced because the tuition increases fill the voids of other cutbacks. Jensen believes that B.C.'s post-secondary education system could suffer similarly adverse consequences.

The Canadian Federation of Students has planned a National Day of Action against cuts to higher education on February 6. Rallies at SFU will coincide with events on campuses around the province and country.

The latest possible date for the government to announce tuition increases is February 19, when the budget is released.

Zaenker warns that massive tuition hikes aren't necessarily inevitable. "It depends on how much one feels things are a given.... Fees will only go up as much as the public will let them."

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