Angela Scappatura
Business Reporter

The new provincial budget does not do enough to distinguish and support college education, said HSF president Cynthia Malagerio.

“Colleges are drastically under funded,” Malagerio said. “The government has started to recognize the value colleges provide but more needs to be done.”

Finance Minister Greg Sorbara’s budget last week included a plan to invest a total of $6.2 billion into post-secondary education by 2009 or 2010.

Malagerio said while the government has allocated $390 million to post-secondary institutions this year, the number sounds a lot larger than it is.

“It won’t seem like so much when it is distributed between all of us,” she said.

The HSF president said the province needs to distinguish colleges from universities instead of placing both under a post-secondary banner.

“The government has to recognize the value of colleges,” she said. “As someone who has been to both university and college, we need that distinction. A university degree is almost not enough and many students come to college for the great work experience.”

Tyler Charlebois, director of advocacy for the College Student Alliance, of which HSF is a member, said he is glad to see the government has increased their investment in post-secondary education but would like to see a more college-focused approach.

“It’s great that colleges are being recognized for their private research and innovation,” Charlebois said. “I would have liked to see even more funding and we would like more value being placed on colleges.”
Charlebois said the provincial government has provided assistance to one of two primary areas of concern for his group.

“I was pleased to see the government has given more money to fund and enhance programs and equipment so that students who enter the workforce have been trained on industry equipment,” he said. “We hope next year to get more grants for student assistance.”

Jesse Greener, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, said he is disappointed that more hasn’t been done to fix the financial barriers potential students encounter.

“We did a recent poll and discovered that 82 per cent of voters are concerned universities and colleges are becoming inaccessible,” Greener said. “Unfortunately, all this budget guarantees for students is that they will be suffering under higher fees and higher debt loads in the future.”

In addition to funding to post-secondary education, the Minister of Finance announced an increase in minimum wage to $10.25 from $8.00 over three years.

“A raise in minimum wage has to happen and it has to happen immediately as far as students are concerned,” Greener said. “If you look at the high fees compared to the minimum wage students are earning, the kind of money people make really amounts to a drop in the bucket.”