N.L. students enjoy tuition freezes but stand in solidarity with students in other provinces who pay higher fees

By Mitchell Clarke

Cooking student Dave Kettle checks for news about tuitions and grants in his email. Photo by Mitchell Clarke

On Feb. 1, students from across Canada spoke out about the high cost of post-secondary education.

Since 1999, Newfoundland and Labrador students have enjoyed relatively low college expenses due to tuition fees being frozen. Former Premier Brian Tobin’s government implemented a tuition freeze around the time that Memorial University was celebrating 50 year of educating students.

According to the CBC, the average fee for the 2011/2012 school year is $5,366, having gone up $220 since the year before. With this in mind, students banded together on what was called the National Day of Action.  The campaign was about reducing fees, increasing funding to post-secondary education and reducing student debt.

Students sent letters and even valentines cards to the provincial minsters of education to tell their governments about the benefits of lower student loans and tuition rates.  Several campuses filmed interviews with students about the National Day of Action. Newfoundland and Labrador students did the same, but their goal was to keep rates where they are and show their support for their fellow students in other provinces, who have to pay much higher rates.

Jessica McCormick, the Newfoundland and Labrador chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, felt that the day went over very well. She spent the day at Memorial University, where many students voiced their thoughts about the cost of post-secondary education.

“We were able to give students opportunities to provide their individual perspective on the campaign, which I think is really important with such a complex issue,” said McCormick. “We were joined by the premier and the minister of advanced education and skills and we kinda called on them to uphold the commitments they made to students in the provincial election. These commitments were to extend the tuition fee freeze to the end of their mandate and to expand the grant program.”

Dave Kettle, a cooking student at the College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville, feels that the cost of post-secondary in Newfoundland and Labrador could be lower.

“I think personally tuition fees could be a lot lower. Right now, I’m $8,000 dollars in the hole and I’m going to be even more in the hole by the time June comes. I’m not finishing in April. Now, granted $2,000 of that is in grants, so it could be a lot worse.”

Once finished Kettle plans to jump right into the work force to pay back his student loans.