Modernization of the Canada Student Loans Program
The needs of students are changing. As the sticker price of tuition, ancillary fees, textbook expenses, and the cost of living continue to rise so rise the access barriers for students. The principle of the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) is to provide financial resources to students who need them so that they can go to college or university. The real cost of education is increasing and more extensive than what CSLP anticipates. The needs of Canadian students are dynamic and ever changing – the standards for assessing needs today do not reflect those of a decade ago.
CASA is recommending that the government amend the Canada Student Loans Program’s assessment of borrower assets to better reflect the true costs faced by Canadian students. The average price of a used vehicle from a private seller is over $11 000, and over $20 000 from a dealer. Considering between 31-49% of students rely on a dependable vehicle to get to class across the country, and CSLP claws back loan amounts for those who own a vehicle valued at over $5 000,
CASA advocates that CSLP allow the exemption of one vehicle from the assessment of borrower assets.
CASA also is aware of the changing profile of Canadian families. Parents of students are currently expected to contribute a portion of their income and assets to the education of their children. This structure disadvantages many, most notably those whose parents are expected to contribute to education funding, but cannot due to any number of circumstances. To assume that families are necessarily able to contribute, and are assumed to be supporting their dependents financially hurts those who need assistance the most. More than 6% of students between ages 17-22, who are expected to be receiving financial assistance from home receive no financial assistance whatsoever. CASA is acutely aware of the stress this puts on the most vulnerable students and potential students in our society. Therefore CASA is recommending that the CSLP assessment of borrower assets eliminate assumed parental contributions from its criteria by 2015/2016.
Click here to view our CSLP Advocacy Document
Access to International Student Visas and Work Permits: Eliminating Red Tape for International Students
Canada’s outreach efforts to international students are an incredible gesture and an intelligent policy direction for decision-makers. CASA is confident that efforts to attract international students can only be truly successful if Canada is welcoming these individuals into a system that offers them the best chance to succeed. International students are confronted with a slew of challenges that feature less prominently in the immediate concerns of domestic students. CASA recommends that the government reduce the period of residency required to obtain a work permit from six months to three months. This timeline better reflects the constraints faced by students in 34 month periods of study. In combination with the removal of the $150 fee that must be paid to apply for a work permit, international students will be supported in overcoming the challenge of higher costs, and they would be encouraged to connect with the community outside of their institution of study. By making study visas multiple entry international students will be encouraged to exchange cultural ideas and knowledge from Canada to other jurisdictions and vice-versa, substantially improving their experience and potentially the quality of learning in Canada.
Click here to view our International Students Advocacy Document
Post-Secondary Education Access for First Nation and Inuit Students
The government of Canada has taken the valuable first steps of apologizing to the former students of residential schools, and ratifying the United Nations Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples, but more has to be done for First Nation and Inuit students in Canada. Programs that were once heavily utilized by First Nations and Inuit populations have fallen victim to chronic underfunding. The Post-Secondary Student Support Program has been capped at 2% annual increases since 1996. From the peak in 1999, First Nation and Inuit students utilizing the program has dropped from over 27 000 to 23 000. During the same time the Aboriginal population of Canada has grown faster than any other segment of society. Increasing opportunities for this dynamic and fast-growing group is essential. CASA is calling on the federal government to eliminate the 2% cap on funding and fully fund any willing and qualified First Nation or Inuit student to go to college or university, including the necessary costs of living and transportation. To see the best results, the government must also finance an administration of the program.
Click here to view our PSSSP Advocacy Document
Formal Tri-Agency Student Transparency
CASA is committed to the principle that Canada’s university system is a hospitable environment for world leading innovations. Promoting a culture of success in the research community necessarily depends on the engagement of all affected persons. In many cases, through receiving funding directly, or involvement in research projects, students are the agents of the advancement of knowledge. Graduate students and undergraduate students conducting research are affected financially and academically, both at present and in the future, by the decisions Canada’s research tri-councils make. As involved actors, students need a voice at the table and must be able to liaise with their peers from the tri-councils. CASA would like seats for students on the board of directors of each research council, where student researchers are given the same powers and obligations as other board members. This will promote the quality, and responsiveness to the needs of the research sector.
Allow Parallel Importation of Academic Materials
Canadian students have shouldered the rapidly increasing burden of textbook prices over the past 15 years. During the period of 1995 to 2007 textbook prices inflated by 280% while the Consumer Price Index only grew by 22%. The reason for this dramatic inflation was the introduction of Book Importation Regulations. Domestic booksellers were forced to pay a premium of 10-15% for books shipped from foreign distributors where a Canadian publisher held a copyright for the same title. Rather than this benefitting the Canadian publishing industry, the two largest publishing houses in the country failed, and benefits were funneled to foreign owned publishers. Canadian students are hit hardest by this once-protectionist measure that has become a private tax placed on them that does little to benefit the Canadian business or the government. If the government were to free the market for academic materials and allow the parallel importation of books, Canadian students could save as much as $30 million annually. CASA therefore calls on the government to remove section 27.1 of the Copyright Act in the forthcoming legislation to modernize Canada’s copyright laws.
