Finance committee  I think that any investment made in the infrastructure is positive, because it creates a better learning environment. But at the same time, you can't forget the student side of it, and many—

Finance committee  I think it's going to vary depending on whom you talk to.

Finance committee  As much as can be funded should be funded for students, to get them through.

Finance committee  All I would say is that we need more educated people with less debt. Before you can have capital and labour markets, you need an education.

Finance committee  There are a lot of good examples of places where that works. There's the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology—one of our member schools as well—finding out where those needs are.

Finance committee  We absolutely need to make better connections.

Finance committee  Wider consultation would probably need to be had on the way to implement it, but I agree with building a better connection, for sure.

Finance committee  The number varies. I've heard a number of things in terms of that. It's hard to say how many without debt, because private debt is not counted—loans from parents and grandparents are not counted—when we're looking at that. In 30% to 40% of students graduating without debt, I wo

Finance committee  What percentage do they actually pay in terms of their education?

Finance committee  That can vary from institution to institution, once you add in the fees. Across this country you're looking at an average year for a student—when you calculate fees, living, and books—costing $18,000 to $27,000.

Finance committee  I can find that for you.

Finance committee  I couldn't give you the total number for support right now. There are absolutely a number of programs that are there to support students. As we mentioned, the Canada student grants program is a fantastic way to put dollars that don't have to be repaid by students. When you look

Finance committee  From the loans perspective, that's arrived at 60-40, but as to what a student pays—

Finance committee  I cannot comment directly on that study right now. In terms of support versus financing, you can't throw funding at an issue and not put the support there, whether it be on-the-ground support, actually on reserve, through a friendship centre, or wherever it may be, to help these

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I think what's important is investing in education, generally, to get people educated. We're looking, in a lot of cases, at fewer jobs for people who are not going to school. During the recession there were 433,000 fewer jobs created for those witho