Thank you.
As you introduced me, my name is Shamus Reid. I'm the chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, British Columbia. Joining me today is Ian Boyko, who is our research and communications officer.
The Canadian Federation of Students, British Columbia, represents over 150,000 university and college students across British Columbia, and on behalf of our members I would like to thank the committee for the chance to provide input today.
Our recommendations to this committee will focus on how the federal budget in 2010 and beyond can enhance access to post-secondary education and reduce student debt, with a particular emphasis on the provincial context in British Columbia. Committee members, I understand, have our written submissions as well, so that provides further detail and context.
Over the last few years, the federal government has made some important decisions that were wholeheartedly welcomed by the Canadian Federation of Students and others in the post-secondary sector. The $800 million increase to the Canada social transfer in 2007 was the largest single increase to federal funding in three decades. Replacing the Millennium Scholarship Foundation with an accountable and transparent grants programs was enthusiastically embraced by students and has been successfully implemented this fall in B.C., but there is much more to do before the government can rest on its laurels.
In British Columbia we've seen tuition fee increases upwards of 100% since 2001, which has had a serious impact on the ability of students from lower- and middle-income backgrounds to pursue a post-secondary education in our province. Average university tuition fees have risen from $2,592 in 2001 to $5,040 today, 7% above the national average. The benefit of Canada's new grants program will decline as long as the federal government continues to allow tuition fees to rise year over year. The increase to the Canada social transfer that I mentioned earlier should have gone towards undoing the damage wrought by tuition fee increases. The fact that it didn't exposes a terrible flaw in the federal approach to financing universities and colleges.
B.C.'s share of the 2007 increase to the CST was approximately $110 million. The windfall from that funding could have taken many forms: lower fees, larger institutional budgets, student debt reduction, or all of the above. Instead, overall funding to advanced education in B.C. in the year of the transfer was actually cut by nearly $100 million; $110 million in new federal funding failed to benefit a single British Columbian.
We have no reason to believe the scenario will change without a new federal-provincial strategy for post-secondary education. To ensure that Canada has a plan for becoming the best place in the world to study and research, no matter what province a student happens to reside in, the federal government should work together with the provinces to implement a national post-secondary education act. That's our first recommendation.
Akin to the Canada Health Act, a national piece of legislation would clarify roles and ensure accountability for the billions of federal dollars transferred to the provinces each year. In return, the provinces would gain a written commitment from the federal government to issue long-term support for post-secondary education under mutually agreed-upon principles.
In the area of student financial aid, in terms of our second recommendation, I have already mentioned the government's wise replacement of the Millennium Foundation. The new Canada student grants program is promising, but one area where I think most committee members can agree that there is room for growth is the level of assistance currently offered by the grants.
As we have outlined in our written brief, increasing funding to the grants program can be done, and should be done, without any new budgetary expenditure. Each year the federal government allocates more than $1 billion to education-related tax credits. That's more than double the budget for the grants programs. The fact is that the higher up the income scale one is, the more one benefits from such tax credits, meaning that higher-income earners benefit twice as much from non-repayable financial aid as those who qualify for low-income grants.
We recommend refocusing this massive federal expenditure to those who actually need the dollars by reallocating all budgeted funding from the tax credits to the new Canada student grants program. Such a move could allow the federal government to triple the size of new grants, making a very significant dent in student debt.
Our final recommendation is especially important, I think, to western Canadians. Canada's aboriginal peoples have been denied justice on many fronts. One area that is fundamental to improving the lives of aboriginal peoples and is well within this committee's grasp is post-secondary education. The federal government has an obligation to guarantee that aboriginal learners who require financial assistance get it, and more broadly, the government has an economic obligation to prepare our workforce for the future. The federal government can begin to accomplish this by removing the unnecessary 2% cap on funding to the post-secondary student support program.
I'll end there with those three recommendations and perhaps go into more depth during the question period.
I thank you all for the opportunity again to present, and I look forward to your questions.