“Out of touch” is how some describe a recent decision by the province to end the NB-EI Connect Program.
The program, which was created in 2016, provided employment insurance benefits to eligible post-secondary students.
After the decision was made on June 23, the UNB Saint John Students’ Representative Council (UNB-SRC) reacted to the program’s cancellation.
“UNB-SRC finds the decision out of touch with the needs and problems of students, especially coming out of the pandemic that was financially destructive for many students,” reads a statement.
“Given the immediate nature of the cancellation, thousands of students will be going into post-secondary education financially vulnerable this upcoming semester with no alternatives to fall back on.”
In an interview last week, UNB-SRC president Devin Debly said students are hurt by this decision and are fearful of what will come next for their future.
“We have a labour shortage now, how about five years from now when we don’t have any graduates. We already have areas like nursing that are being hurt because there aren’t enough nurses to go around and if they can’t afford tuition then what’s that going to spell for us for years to come,” he said.
Debly said UNB-SRC is calling on the provincial government to do four things:
- Increase mental health resources available for students
- Extend the grace period of NB-EI Connect one year
- Have student consultations and give more warning when making drastic changes
- Increase the grant portion of student loans to help counteract the fiscal harm to students
Debly said student unions at post-secondary institutions across the province are pushing back against the change.
“Although the decision wasn’t made in bad faith. there needs to be some course correction here, and with that, we have provincial advocacy groups such as The New Brunswick Student Alliance who are also fighting this at a provincial level … so we have all the bases covered, all we need to do is have the government receptive to us and I think we might be able to pull a win out of this.”
