Manitoba Government helping to pay off 3,700 student loans

Despite federal cuts, initiatives still in place to help out students

Daniel Crump

This year the province of Manitoba is putting 10.5 million dollars into the MB Bursary Loan Remission Program, which will go towards reducing the loans of 3,700 students.

Advanced Education and Literacy Minister Erin Selby once had an outstanding loan of $30,000 after a 4 year Bachelors degree in the 1980s. At that point in time, there was no loan remission program at all.

“One of our goals is if you have a passion to learn, if you have a desire to go to school, it shouldn’t be your pocketbook that is keeping you from going,” she says.

All university students The Uniter spoke with were unaware of the Loan Remission Program, despite the fact it’s been happening annually since 2000.

Brendan Gali, a third year film student who confesses to struggling with student debt, thinks that the biggest contributing factor is lack of awareness about money management. “I know the University offers workshops [on fiscal responsibility],” he says, “but most of the students who don’t know enough about the topic are the ones who fall into debt.”

This year, eligible students will receive an average reduction of $2,830 on their student loans. Eligibility is based on need, and students who apply for loans will automatically be considered.

“It’s quite handy to not have to remember to fill in a particular form,” says Selby. “As soon as you apply for a student loan, you are automatically considered for a loan remission bursary.”

According to Selby, the Manitoba Government has been doing lots for university students. “We’ve raised minimum wage every year since we took government in 1999, and of course that helps a lot of students as well.”

The provincial government has also provided $90 million to students who stay and work in Manitoba through a 60 percent tuition rebate as well as tied the cost of university to the inflation rate.

The federal government is not as involved with funding universities as it used to be, however, making it much more difficult for the province to provide operating grants to universities and students.

William Paton, President of the Manitoba Organization of Faculty Associations, explains that in 1983, 0.5 percent of the GDP went to federal transfer payments for provincial operating grants. This reached an all-time low of 0.15% in 2004-2005 under the Liberal government, and though it has slowly inched its way back under the Conservatives, it is still nowhere near what it used to be.

“I think the pressure should be put on the feds in this next election,” he says. “With student organizations and faculty organizations, to get them to recognize that it was federal initiatives that led to the issues we have.”

Selby agrees. “The federal government doesn’t even have a department of education or advanced education… they have nobody federally who is looking at education at any level.”

Increased federal funding would provide the Manitoba government with greater financial resources for helping students. Currently, the province is the third most affordable place to attend university in Canada, after Quebec and Newfoundland.

Published in Volume 68, Number 7 of The Uniter (October 16, 2013)

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