David Coon is the leader of the Green Party of New Brunswick. (Submitted)
New Brunswick’s Green party leader says changes to the tuition bursary program will negatively impact low-income students.
The province is expanding the program to include private institutions, but with no extra money set aside, the average student will get less funding.
David Coon says he is worried it will be harder for low-income students to get an education.
“Students who weren’t having to pay tuition this year in some cases are going to have to pay tuition next year,” said Coon. “That’s obviously a concern in terms of the financial burden that will put on them.”
Coon said he has no problem with expanding the program but believes the government should have added more money to it.
The maximum amount a student can receive will be reduced to $3,000 from $10,000, but the province said the average provincial payout under the previous program was $2,900.
Post-Secondary Education Minister Trevor Holder has said reintroducing the tuition tax credit, which was cut by the previous Liberal government, will offset the reduction.
Students now receiving free tuition under the Free Tuition Program have not been grandfathered in. Here's how much they will have to pay to complete their programs. pic.twitter.com/5O2YHE79Ym
— David Coon (@DavidCCoon) April 10, 2019
Coon said students taking one-year courses at the New Brunswick Community College will feel the impact of the changes even more as they are not eligible for the Canada Student Grant.
“They need to up the [provincial] bursary for those students in the one-year program to compensate for that,” he said.
Coon is also upset about the province’s decision to discontinue the timely completion benefit for graduating students.
“Those students who were counting on it when they graduated this year … have had the rug pulled out from underneath them,” he said.
The “very costly” benefit was not reaching enough New Brunswickers, according to Holder. It helped just 281 people at a cost of $3.3 million in 2017-18.
Coon said he is happy the tuition tax credit has been reintroduced but noted it will not help students right away since it does not take effect until next tax year.
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