Living on debt row…

As I mentioned in my last post, the Greens are the first party to unveil their post secondary education (PSE) platform. There were three major parts to this announcement. Boosting support to the CSLP and bursary programs, increased transfer payments to the provinces for PSE and a forgivenes of 50% of your student loan for completing your degree or certificate program."Young people in Canada deserve a quality education that doesn't leave them with a debt sentence,” Green Leader Elizabeth May says, stealing a line from another federal lobby group who have yet to launch a campaign website. But, back to the Green Plan.

The first two announcements shouldn't count for much yet, because there aren't any dollar figures attached to them. Increased support for CSLP and bursary programs is obviously a good thing, but how much increased support are we talking about? How will the bursaries be awarded? Based on need? Underepresentation within the PSE system? Parental income? "Students need to hear more details about their proposals," CASA National Director Zach Churchill states. "Specifically, we would like to see the Green Party target the increases in bursary funding towards raising the participation rates of underrepresented groups, such as Aboriginal students and students with disabilities.”

Increasing the transfer payments to the provinces is definitely a good idea. A dedicated transfer for PSE is an even better one. Another problem with the PSE system that Elizabeth May (and all NS politicians) should be attentive to is the fact that the Canada Social Transfer (the fed-provincial transfer mechanism for PSE, among other things) is delivered on a per-capita basis, which doesn't account for the number of students studying in a province. Nova Scotia is a net importer of students, and per usual gets the proverbial transfer payment shaft. Essentially, Ontario sends their students here, but their tax dollars don't follow them. This has led to our provincial government choosing the short-sited root of charging differential tuition rates to out of province students. Any increased transfer payments to our province ought to be calculated on a per student basis, otherwise we'll continue to get a smaller share of the PSE pie.

The major announcement from the greens, 50% student loan forgiveness upon completion of a PSE program, is intriguing. It makes me think of the Liberal's 50-50 plan from the 2006 election, whereby the government would pay 50% of a student's first and last year. I am slighlty baffled by both of these approaches, they both use the magic number "fifty", both are obviously aimed at decreasing high university drop-out rates (of nearly 15% across canada), and both seem as if they were thought up a few minutes before the announcements were made (which, for the Liberals at least, is true).

The nifty-fifty green deal is worth examining. On first glance, a few things jump out. It's definitely good for students with student loans, as well as former students still struggling with debt. In fact, if I were a graduating high school student it would appear to be a huge incentive to get a student loan, as opposed to some other type of credit. But most interestingly, this plan would also forgive 50% of the debt of graduates, which would be a HUGE investment, given the amount of student debt already accumulated in canada, which the CFS debt-tracker charts at almost 13 billion at the time of writing. The Greens might be unprepared to make a budgetary committment this big, but the point is moot since they have a slim chance of forming government anytime soon.