The federal government has unveiled a roughly $9-billion aid package to help students struggling to find work during the COVID-19 crisis.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says college and university students who have seen their education and job possibilities altered will be able to take advantage of a new Canada Emergency Student Benefit.
“You’ll get $1,250 a month from May to August and if you take care of someone else or have a disability, that amount will go up to $1,750 each month,” says Trudeau.
Trudeau says post-secondary students currently in school, planning to start in September, or who graduated in December 2019 are eligible, even if you have a job and making less than $1,000 a month.
He says the period covered by the benefit will start on May 1 and payments will be delivered through the Canada Revenue Agency.
“Our government is creating 76,000 jobs for young people in addition to the Canada Summer Jobs program. These placements will be in sectors that need an extra hand right now or that are on the frontline’s of this pandemic. We’re also going to be providing specific support for Indigenous students,” says Trudeau.
“For student researchers and graduate students. We are going to invest over $291 million to extend scholarships, fellowships, and grants, to make sure you can keep working. Depending on your funding it will be extended for three or four months.”
Other highlights of the student aid package:
- Launching a new Canada Student Service Grant of between $1,000 and $5,000 for students volunteering in the COVID-19 fight.
- Providing more than $75 million to specifically increase support for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Nation students.
- Doubling the student grants that the government gives out for the 2020-21 school year.
The prime minister says his government will be working with opposition parties to move forward on legislation to put the supports in place.
Last week, the New Brunswick Student Alliance (NBSA) called on government to provide more help for students affected by the pandemic.
The provincial government had announced a bridging program to support vulnerable student who do not quality for other govenrment funding, offering up to $750 through their post-secondary institutions.
But the alliance said the program is too restrictive as only students who do not have access to student loans qualify for the program.
“The Government of New Brunswick has deliberately excluded our most vulnerable students from accessing funding under the program that was supposedly created to support them,” said Husoni Raymond, vice-chair of the NBSA, in a news release.
“More needs to be done to properly support students during this stressful and uncertain time, a one-time payment of $750 is not enough and their exclusionary policy is not enough.”
The NBSA also wants the province to create a long-term plan for students studying in New Brunswick in recent graduates.
With files from Mike Ebbeling and Brad Perry.
