Average student debt in province after four years is $34,000

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By Yvon Gauvin
Times & Transcript staff

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New Brunswick will never attain its goal of self-sufficiency within the next two decades if it doesn't resolve the problem of student debt first, says one of the organizers of the student protest outside Moncton City Hall yesterday.

The estimated 250 university students who marched from the Université de Moncton campus to downtown were part of a larger, province-wide movement at six university campuses and community colleges yesterday protesting what they said were the province's ineffectual programs and inaction vis-a-vis student needs.

André Cormier, a vice-president with the UdeM student federation, says higher education is one of the key elements for any self-sufficiency program but fears the province will lose out if university graduates burdened with heavy debts and the government's current repayment program seek financial solace outside the province offering better paying jobs and a chance to earn a decent living while meeting the loan repayment requirements.

One of the recommendations students have been pressing for in their reform program is establishment of a 20 per cent maximum on monthly student loan repayments instead of a fixed amount.

There wouldn't be much money left to live on from a minimum-wage job if the student has to remit $500 each month, he said.

Another recommendation to ease the debt situation is for a $6,000 ceiling on student loans per year from the government. Any extra money would be given on a forgivable loan basis.

That means that a university graduate with four years of study would owe a maximum of $24,000 instead of the average of $34,000 he now owes, said Cormier.

The students are critical of the province's offer of $2,000 bursaries for anyone entering first year university and a $10,000 tax credit after four years. That money would be better spent helping students with the greatest needs pay for their education, he said.

The Moncton protestors wore red yesterday, symbolizing being in the red, or in debt. Other campuses had students fill out postcards with their student debt information to be sent Premier Shawn Graham.

Mount Allison University students in Sackville created a student shantytown and dressed up as hobos of the 1930s era to illustrate the impact of the indebtedness incurred trying to obtain a post-secondary education.

A high-quality, accessible, affordable post-secondary education is the goal of the New Brunswick Student Alliance, said Heather Elliott, alliance executive director, at yesterday's University of New Brunswick protest. The alliance represents about 16,500 university and community college students across the province.

The provincial government initiatives to improve access to post-secondary education doesn't address the most pressing issues which are affordability and the debilitating student debts, she said.