Education cost is the core issue post-secondary students want the parties to tackle in this provincial election, according to the College Student Alliance.
“Affordability in terms of education and your housing are major, major issues for domestic and international students,” said Jason Baryluk, the interim general manager of the student advocacy organization.
Baryluk says rising tuition rates and rents influence other issues such as the well-being and mental health of students. He said that eliminating interest rates, freezing tuition, and increasing grants will allow more people to afford college and university.
“I think this would make it a lot easier for them to be able to make that decision,” Baryluk said.
The Liberal’s platform, released on Monday, follows through with some of those ideas. It promises to eliminate student interest rates and stop tuition costs from going up. The party also promised to fully cover the tuition costs for students in early childhood education, personal support worker programs, and medical and nursing students who pledge to work in rural and northern communities.
The NDP released its platform in April. The party promises an audit of the post-secondary system. It also wants to convert student loans into grants, and find a way to remove student loan interest for present and past students.
The Ontario PC’s platform on post-secondary education includes expanding three and four-year degree programs available in publicly funded colleges.
Baryluk said there is a lot for students to like in the election platforms.
“The Ontario Liberals and the Ontario NDP have actually gone pretty extensively into trying to tackle these issues, mind you in different ways,” he said
Baryluk said that Ford’s plan is a mixed bag that will benefit schools with increased funding but without tackling affordability, students will still be buried under debt when they graduate.
Ford cut funding to OSAP by 700 million in 2019 and changed funding systems that reduced eligibility for grants.
Baryluk said students were left in the lurch by the OSAP cuts, with many unable to continue their education.
At the time, Ford said the cuts were to save money to make OSAP sustainable. Both the Liberal and NDP platforms promise to reverse those cuts.
The CSA was consulted by the parties on what students wanted in this election. It has a web page that compares education-related election promises from the major parties.
Baryluk said that increasing the funding for post-secondary students won’t have a significantly higher price tag based on the benefits.
“I don’t believe it will be a significant increase in terms of how much it will cost in terms of the government budget. Because I think the net gains would be even better,” he said.
Graduating Humber College journalism student Eli Ridder is the president of the CSA.