Alberta economist Todd Hirsch wrote a great article in the Globe and Mail this weekend that I hope every Albertan, especially Finance Minister Dr. Ted Morton reads before budget day.
At the basic level most would have to agree with Hirsch – education is an investment. Let’s hope our government sees it the same way.
The Government of Alberta released the annual reports for all 24 ministries including Alberta Advanced Education and Technology today. The report shows that Alberta is still making the grade when it comes to increasing access to Alberta’s post-secondary system.
Albertans were surveyed on whether they were satisfied that “adult Albertans can access education or training” and 25% of Albertans said no, which is up from 21% just one year ago. Alberta continues to have the lowest post-secondary participation rate in Canada, with only 17% of Albertans between 18-34 years old attending a post-secondary institution. Next door in British Columbia it is 23%.
Those who do get in are graduating with unacceptable levels of debt, with the average debt-to-income ratio well above the target set in the 2009 Business Plan.
Alberta has a plan to increase the number of spaces by 14,445 spaces by 2019, and for many those spaces cannot come quickly enough. It is also important that those spaces are well-funded, of the highest quality and are accessible and affordable to all qualified Albertans.
CAUS has a clear set of priorities intended to improve our participation rate and increase access to our universities. Those priorities are:
- Regulating non-instructional fees;
- Putting the Tuition Fee Policy into legislation;
- Increasing base operating grants to institutions;
- Increasing grants, bursaries and scholarships; and
- Making elections more accessible to students.
If you want to read the 2009/10 Alberta Advanced Education and Technology annual report you can download it here and if you want to read more about CAUS’ priorities in addressing these concerns you can look here.
Our sister organization the Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) announced the winners of its annual Distinguished Academic Awards last week and we are happy to congratulate Dr. Carole Estabrooks from the University of Alberta and Dr. Paul Hayes from the University of Lethbridge on their outstanding work at Alberta’s universities.
Dr. Estabrooks is a professor in the Faculty of Nursing and a Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transition at the University of Alberta. Her research on the practical health care outcomes and better delivery of health care has received international attention along with millions of dollars in research that is advancing our knowledge in health care.
Dr. Hayes teaches in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Lethbridge and has been researching organometallic chemistry – which is advancing our knowledge of preparing “green” polymers from renewable sources, such as corn. He graduated with a PhD from the University of Calgary just six years ago, but as already made his mark in academia here in Alberta and should be considered one of our rising stars.
Both Dr. Hayes and Dr. Estabrooks are fantastic examples of how important it is that the faculty at our universities not only be superb educators, but also be on the leading edge of discovery within their disciplines. To better attract and support faculty members CAUS is calling on the Government of Alberta to increase the Campus Alberta Grant to institutions as a part of our annual budget recommendations.
Yesterday’s provincial budget made it clear that students were going to be the ones footing the bill for cuts in post-secondary education through increased student debt. Coming down at the same time as universities ponder dramatic tuition increases and new mandatory fees students, the cuts to scholarships, bursaries and grants will be felt hard on campus.
“A cut to bursaries and grants is a slap in the face – thousands of students are facing the prospect of few summer jobs and now are given little more than additional debt by the province,” said Beverly Eastham, chair of the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS) and VP External at the University of Alberta Students’ Union. “We are especially disappointed in cutting the Student Loan Relief Benefit, the most important tool we have to limit student debt in this province. That is going to send those debt levels through the roof – expect to see graduates with as much as $50,000 or more in debt.”
The 2010 provincial budget made several unexpected cuts to Alberta’s student financial aid system, including:
- Eliminating the $34.5 million Student Loan Relief Benefit, which limited the amount of debt a student could graduate with in Alberta
- Cutting grants and bursaries to $13.5 million, a cut of 55% from last year
- Reducing scholarships by $2.9 million from last year
In order to compensate for these changes, the government is increasing student loan disbursements by $37.6 million through increasing loan limits, living allowances and other policy changes, although much of that may flow directly to institutions in the form of tuition increases and new fees.
“Students have been hit hard by this economic downturn and can ill afford to see their supports crumbling away. This is a budget that hurts students,” concluded Eastham.
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