College, university to be more affordable under NDP

Mulcair plan will phase out interest rates on loans, increase available grants

The NDP plan for post-secondary education, launched today by candidates Claire Card (Saskatoon-University), Sheri Benson (Saskatoon West) and Scott Bell (Saskatoon-Grasswood) will make college and university more affordable and accessible for Canadian students and their families.

“Half a million Canadians receive Canada Student Loans every year,” said Card. “Since Stephen Harper took office, the level of student debt has risen by 30% with the average graduate now expecting to owe more than $26,000 as they try to start a career and maybe even a family.”

“Instead of making life more affordable for students, the Conservative government had to write off $838 million in unrecoverable student loans,” said Bell. “That’s tens of thousands of cases in the last four years alone while college and university tuition climb to record levels.”

A Tom Mulcair NDP government will:

• Invest $250 million in additional federal student grants over four years, with an emphasis on helping students who need it most, creating as many as 50,000 new grants;
• Immediately begin phasing out interest on federal student loans, eliminating it completely by Year 7 and saving the average student $4,000; and
• Work with the provinces and territories to make post-secondary education more affordable, accessible, and inclusive.

“Only the NDP has a plan to address the affordability crisis in post-secondary education,” said Benson. “Everyone who holds a federal student loan will benefit from our plan and by 2019, interest payments on student loans will be cut in half.”