Finance committee  Good afternoon, and thanks very much for the opportunity to speak here today. We're obviously here to speak today about Bill C-50's implications on Canadian student financial assistance. The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organization. We represent undergraduate and graduate students at Canada's public universities and colleges, both small and large.

Finance committee  Yes, you should come and talk to me after this. I think there are a lot of different measures. One of them obviously is reducing upfront barriers, but another is targeted programs specifically for low-income Canadians, for aboriginal Canadians. I think there are a lot of specific measures that need to be done for those who are currently underrepresented in our system.

Finance committee  Yes, absolutely. I know we have circulated this information to committee members and to different caucus members in the past, but we can absolutely provide that information. Regarding some of the numbers we've been getting, we do a lot of access to information requests with regard to specific numbers.

Finance committee  No. I threw that in there because right now there is a focus on a user-fee model; people pay up front in order to participate in post-secondary education. The difficulty is that it's creating these gross inequities when students graduate, depending on how much they need to borrow and how much they end up owing in the end.

Finance committee  I'm really glad you asked that, because in fact our proposal is very similar to what you just suggested, and that's a mixture of grants and loans being done by one central body. The problem right now with the way in which grants are being administered is that there is a whole confusing patchwork of different programs, so part of our proposal is to simplify that.

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. We represent four student unions in Quebec. And as we spoke about last year in committee, we work very closely with FEUQ, which is the federation of university students in Quebec. Our policy does dictate that we believe, in the same way that Quebec right now does not participate in the Canada student loans program, in the same way other students in other provinces do, that the way the money is currently being allocated to Quebec students should continue.

Finance committee  Actually, in regard to the two major programs we're putting forward--this national system of need-based grants to flow through the Canada student loans program--right now the Canada student loans program does have separate provisions for Quebec. So when we state that this national system of need-based grants needs to run through the Canada student loans program, we're de facto endorsing the system that currently exists, which is a separate system that is negotiated with Quebec.

Finance committee  Thanks for the question. We certainly did support what Bill C-284 was trying to do, and that's provide more assistance for low-income Canadians and for low-income families. Of course, we understand there is some concern with regard to Quebec students also receiving funding, but I think from our perspective we are very much in support of measures that are going to increase assistance for low-income Canadians and also provide assistance that is needs-based.

Finance committee  We think there need to be more measures that the government is pursuing. In the context of the expiring Millennium Scholarship Foundation in the context of this bill, I do think we are in support of what of the bill was trying to do. We do think that obviously the bill could have been broadened.

Finance committee  Thank you. I just want to thank the committee for this opportunity to present again on behalf of more than half a million university and college students at over 85 student unions across the country. I only have a few minutes today, so I'm going to focus my remarks on a few key areas: replacing the Millennium Scholarship Foundation with a system of need-based grants, increasing transfers to the provinces, and redirecting money currently being spent in areas that are of little assistance to those who need help the most.

Human Resources committee  If you're asking me if we would support a grants program that takes away money from students, we certainly do not support the idea that grant money should be decreased for students.

Human Resources committee  Yes. As I said earlier, the provision of student assistance is important, and to include provisions for needs-based versus income-based could be examined and could be something debated within the committee. One of our concerns when the grant was first announced was the level of assistance based on province for those students who study in provinces where tuition fees are lower.

Human Resources committee  I didn't bring any statistics with regard to the access grant itself. I know that there were over 30,000 students who were helped in their first year. Certainly any bit of financial assistance helps students. I think there was a question earlier about completion rates, and study after study shows that students who have more debt have lower completion rates.

Human Resources committee  Yes. I didn't raise that in my remarks, but certainly we've debated internally this idea of enshrining the Canada access grants within the act versus keeping them within the regulations. I think it's an important discussion to have. Certainly we would not support measures to decrease grant money for students.

Human Resources committee  That was the understanding I had.