NDP would eliminate tuition for community college students

Tuition would be eliminated at community colleges and reduced by 25 per cent at universities under an NDP government, party leader Jennifer McKenzie said Tuesday.

McKenzie also said the NDP would eliminate interest on provincial student loans and provide upfront financial assistance to graduate students.

Speaking at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, McKenzie said the New Brunswick NDP wants to reduce barriers to education, so students "can graduate and focus on building their futures in New Brunswick." 

The party estimates it would cost $30 million to eliminate tuition for community college students and $40 million to reduce it for university students. 

High debt load

"We have a number of ways that we're looking at to cover those costs," McKenzie said. 

In an interview, McKenzie said the options the party would consider include raising the provincial corporation tax rate and raising taxes for people in the top one per cent income bracket.

This September, McKenzie will be leading the NDP for the first time in a provincial election. The party had no members in the most recent legislature.

Unveiling her platform on higher education costs, she said it is becoming more difficult for students to attend college or university in the province because of the cost of tuition. 

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Since 2010, under Liberal and Conservative governments, she said, tuition fees at universities have risen 20 per cent, "to the point where New Brunswick students now have the highest average debt load in the country and they pay the highest interest rates on that debt."

Tuition costs across the province vary from $3,350 at NBCC per year to more than $6,500 at St. Thomas and the University of New Brunswick. 

The NDP says its plan would prevent the Liberal government's tuition reset in 2019, which McKenzie predicts will cause tuition fees at UNB to "skyrocket."

"No more biting around the edges," she said. "It is time to start taking the bold steps towards universality in post-secondary education. It's time to start making education accessible to all."

Idea is to keep students in province

The NDP platform would also see spending on dedicated mental-health services on campus. 

She said her proposed measures would be available to students from anywhere in Canada who study in the province.

"Students should be encouraged to study in New Brunswick. Our graduates go on to find employment, create businesses, and raise families right here. It's time to invest in our future."

Brianna Workman, the vice-president for education with STU's student union, liked the NDP's ideas but has questions, since the party offered few details on how it would fund the programs.

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"One thing I would have liked to see [is] a little bit more of a breakdown of how those ideas would be enacted if the NDP was to be elected and just some more specifics in terms of costing out some of those promises and things like that," said Workman, who attended the announcement.

Workman said the tuition programs introduced by the Liberal government have helped students who need it most, and she hopes they will be maintained no matter which party is elected. 

The program, introduced ahead of the 2016-2017 academic year, provides a bursary to attend a public university or community college for students from families with gross family incomes of $60,000 or less.

"Maintaining those programs of free tuition and tuition relief that do provide that upfront assistance to low and middle-income students, we would really like to see the continuation of those programs," she said.