Wednesday, February 17, 2010 

PRINCE GEORGE—Hundreds more British Columbians signed the petition to reduce student debt this week as the Education Shouldn't be a Debt Sentence tour reached the College of New Caledonia in Prince George. The tour is organized by the Canadian Federation of Students-BC and is swinging through campuses across the province in February and March.

"BC families are suffering as record high tuition fees have led to record high student debt," said CFS-BC National Executive Representative Michael Olson. "This tour is giving voice to the thousands of British Columbians who need a commitment from the BC government to reduce student debt."

Playing host to the tour, the students' union at the College of New Caledonia held an "Unfair Fair" on Wednesday, where students participated in events that highlighted student debt and underfunding of colleges and universities. The events included the funding limbo, where students had to literally bend over backwards to succeed as the funding levels (and limbo stick) went down. 

"For far too many College of New Caledonia students, education is a debt sentence," said Olson. "We are calling on both of the MLAs in the Prince George region, Pat Bell and Shirley Bond, to stand up for their constituents."

Tuition fees have more than doubled in BC since 2001 as per-student funding has been cut. The elimination of the BC grants program in 2004 accelerated student debt accumulation to the point where average debt upon graduation of a four-year program now exceeds $27,000. Meanwhile, BC has the highest interest rates in the country on its student loans. The CFS-BC's campaign calls for the BC government to:

• reduce tuition fees;
• re-establish a grants program;
• eliminate interest on student loans; and
• restore funding to universities and colleges.

The Canadian Federation of Students-British Columbia is BC’s provincial student organization, representing 150,000 university and college students at all levels of post-secondary education in BC. It is non-partisan and affiliated with Canada’s largest national student organization, the Canadian Federation of Students.

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