Human Resources committee  Good afternoon. Thanks very much. I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me here this afternoon to present on behalf of the over a half million members who comprise the Canadian Federation of Students, at over 80 student unions across the country. My comments today will

Human Resources committee  I've got to fit it in in seven minutes. So over 350,000 students in Canada are forced to borrow to finance their education every year. Depending on the province, average student debt for a four-year program ranges from $25,000 to $28,000 per student. Upfront financial barriers,

Human Resources committee  “Once again” might be too many times, but certainly we agree with the assessment that tax credits and after-the-fact tax breaks for students are not the means to provide student financial assistance. As I said, most students aren't benefiting from the tax credits. In fact a lot o

Human Resources committee  Yes, absolutely. Most students in fact don't make enough money to be paying taxes.

Human Resources committee  The point I was trying to make was that up-front student financial assistance is the most effective measure for student financial aid. From our perspective a broad-based system is absolutely necessary, and currently what exists in the country is not a national system of needs-bas

Human Resources committee  Yes, I do support the expansion of the grants program.

Human Resources committee  I think you've raised a very good point in terms of where the responsibility lies. Certainly we understand that post-secondary education is a provincial jurisdiction. Education in general has been left up to the provinces, but historically the federal government has always played

Human Resources committee  In terms of the idea of sharing responsibilities, I absolutely do favour the idea that there needs to be a sharing of responsibilities, especially for something as important as post-secondary education, which does affect all of Canada's economy. Obviously, there are different imp

Human Resources committee  I think Scott touched on it a little bit, and I think I heard some members speaking about it earlier, but the idea of a national system of needs-based grants, a comprehensive system, would be a bit broader than what's currently on the table, so it's broader than what the Canada a

Human Resources committee  Certainly I think there's room for that debate and discussion within this committee. Our priority is ensuring that students get the financial assistance they need, so hopefully all committee members are interested in discussing how best to do that. Absolutely, I think there's a l

Human Resources committee  Absolutely, and we have long said that there needs to be a discussion or at least an examination of who is receiving the financial aid from the federal government. The quote that I stated in terms of families over $70,000 benefiting the most from RESPs is from Don Drummond, the

Human Resources committee  Yes, it's undergraduates, graduates, and student unions. It's about 85 student unions across the country.

Human Resources committee  It's close to 600,000 students.

Human Resources committee  I think there could be a couple of things. One is the idea of needs-based assistance. It would examine the idea of how to incorporate needs-based assistance into it instead of just low income. Then I think Scott said something earlier about mature students. Currently, mature stud

Human Resources committee  That's full tuition fees for low-income students, you said?