Is it fair for students from low-income families to keep paying post-secondary tuition, given those born into the same situations a few years later won’t have to?
That’s a question being debated these days on Ontario’s university and college campuses.
Starting with the next school year, students entering post-secondary studies whose parents have a combined income of less than $50,000 won’t have to pay for their tuition.
A petition circulating online calls for the government to extend similar help to current students in similar situations.
“Why are they left with crippling debt while students now can receive that same education free of cost?” the petition reads.
“We demand those of us who come from qualifying low-income families have their OSAP loans forgiven, or at the very least eliminate the interest on those loans.”
Students at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus approached by CTV News on Friday seemed to like the idea – or one that took the concept a bit further.
“It would be cool if there was a streamlined system where everybody got some sort of discount or everybody got some sort of coverage,” said Daniel Taylor, a psychology student who said he wouldn’t qualify for the new program as his parents earned more than $50,000, even though he paid for his tuition himself.
Business student Stefan DeKoning said he would like to see the loans written off, but would rather see a system implemented similar to the one in his native Germany.
“Their tuition systems are set up that it’s pretty much free for everyone,” he said.
An official with the Wilfrid Laurier University Students Union says many students aren’t aware of grants and other programs they could already be using to lighten their tuition load.
“Right now, it’s just very complex and not very transparent to those students who need to access the aid right now,” said Laura Bassett, the union’s vice-president of university affairs.
Organizers of the petition say they have collected more than 30,000 names.
