'Debt Sentence' Campaign Followup 1

The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) continues rolling out developments in its "Education Shouldn't be a Debt Sentence' campaign.

The campaign was launched October 20 to focus attention on the growing problem of student debt in Canada. Tuition fees and student debt continue rising faster than inflation.

Across Canada, BC seems to be facing the most extreme rise in student debt.

In BC, average student debt is now more than $27,000. This has come from a combination of fast-rising tuition fees and cuts in student aid. Since 2001, BC's tuition fees have more than doubled under the Campbell (BC Liberal) government. In addition, 2004, BC eliminated the province’s grants program, quickly driving up student debt, and this summer, BC ended student loan aid programs normal to other provinces, such as Permanent Disability Benefits Program and Debt Reduction in Repayment. Today, BC has Canada's worst ranking in proportion of student assistance expenditures on non-repayable aid.

Both the CFS and Student Finance 101/Debt 101 have website articles that detail the deteriorating situation in BC.

As a partner to this campaign, Student Finance 101/Debt 101 not only links to the campaign site through its banner ad but will link to campaign highlights.

Here is a highlight for this week: a newly-released Education Action Plan.

Described as a blueprint for post-secondary education in Canada, this plan from the CFS would reverse the counter-productive trend of rising education debt for Canada's post-secondary students.