Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, members of the committee.
My name is Charlotte Kiddell, and I am the deputy chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. The federation is Canada's largest and oldest national student organization, representing over 650,000 post-secondary students from coast to coast. I appreciate the opportunity to be here today.
You have asked the federation to comment on federal budget measures to help Canadians and the Canadian economy. To us, the evidence is clear: major investments in post-secondary education are needed for both.
Decades of austerity budgeting and piecemeal reforms in post-secondary education have hurt students, their families, businesses, the economy, and our society as a whole. It's time to think big.
Of course, there is some good news. Canada has one of the highest rates of post-secondary participation in the world. That's welcome, given that 70% of new jobs in the Canadian economy require some form of post-secondary training. As well, we just heard from the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies on the social benefits of higher education. The problem is who is currently accessing post-secondary education.
The steep costs associated with post-secondary training and the impact of decades of federal funding cuts mean that post-secondary education is increasingly inaccessible to low- and middle-income earners and their families. Those hurt most by this crisis in post-secondary education are already marginalized groups—women, indigenous peoples, racialized communities, people with disabilities, single parents, LGBTQ+ people, and so on. As the social determinants of health literature tell us, greater debt intensifies existing inequalities.
In 1996, a 20% cut was made to federal transfers to post-secondary education, the largest federal funding cut to PSE in Canada's history. That has led to massive increases in tuition and student debt. Tuition revenues to post-secondary institutions have tripled in the last 15 years alone.
Today, three semesters of studying aircraft maintenance at Seneca College, for example, costs $18,000 for domestic students and $71,000 for international students. Tuition at McMaster University's medical school is now $26,000 per year for domestic students and $97,000 for international students. These are local examples that have fuelled historic levels of student debt, measured at $28 billion in 2012, and increasing by $1 million every day.
This isn't hurting only individual students and their families. High student debt also hurts our society as a whole, which now suffers from a serious household debt crisis. On average, Canadians hold a debt level that equals 171% of their annual income.
The federal government says it has taken steps to address this problem. Canada student grants were increased by 50% in 2016, and a $90-million investment was made to the post-secondary student support program for indigenous learners last year. Both investments students had called for and welcomed.
These measures won't address the gaping hole cut in the system two decades ago. They won't stop rising tuition and student debt, and they won't meaningfully increase access to post-secondary education. In fact, after the federal government cancelled education tax credits and increased Canada student grants in 2016, it will spend $3 billion less on post-secondary education over the next five years, while student debt continues to rise.
We say enough is enough. It's time for renewal in post-secondary education.
That is why, in our pre-budget submission, we support restoring core funding for institutions and eliminating tuition fees for all students studying in Canada, in all programs. An ongoing investment of $9.1 billion would make this happen. That is why we support dedicating $10 million from the aboriginal languages initiative to ensure the instruction of indigenous languages on campus. That is why we support the findings of the Naylor report and its call to invest $1.3 billion in basic investigator-led research by 2022. That is why we are calling for a $300-million investment over two years dedicated to improving on-campus mental health services.
Members of the committee, thank you again for having me here today. I look forward to your questions.