The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations
2nd Floor 1673 Barrington St. Halifax, NS B3J 1Z9. (902) 422-4068
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Report shows students concerned about making ends meet.
(Halifax) – Students in Nova Scotia and across Canada are concerned about finding the financial resources required to pay for their education, says a report released today. The “Canadian Student Survey: Summer Work and Paying for Post-Secondary Education” examines the effect of high youth unemployment rates on how students fund their education and how cash limitations affect their ability to pursue an education.
The report noted that despite strong efforts to find full-time summer employment, more than half of students would have worked more if given the opportunity. Students studying in Nova Scotia earned a median of just $3,500 from May – August, and reported only being able to save $1,500 of that to put towards the cost of school.
Students studying in Nova Scotia also reported having loaned more money overall from government, although the incidence of debt was similar to other regions in Canada.
The report also noted that less funding can have a particularly negative effect on student persistence; students from low income backgrounds reported that they were more likely to either leave full-time studies for lower-cost part-time options or leave post-secondary education altogether if costs increased.
“Students are having a difficult time making ends meet,” said Mark Coffin, Executive Director of the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations. “The combination of high youth employment levels, and the high tuition students pay in Nova Scotia is leading many students towards a higher reliance on debt and is even causing some to delay or abandon their studies.”
The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations recently submitted a pre-budget proposal to the Nova Scotia Government suggesting changes in tuition policy and increasing the value of non-repayable grants to students of high need.
The “Canadian Student Survey” was a bilingual, multi-institutional survey conducted on university campuses across the country in the fall term of the 2009-10 academic year. It was commissioned by the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA), the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA), the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), and the Council of Alberta University Students (CAUS
The “Canadian Student Survey: Summer Work and Paying for Post-Secondary Education” report is the first of three to be released this year, and can be found in full here: http://anssa.ca/files/CSS%20-%20Summer-Work-and-Paying-for-PSE.pdf
The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA) is a not-for-profit, non-partisan lobby group representing the interests of over 80% of Nova Scotian university students. We are over 35,000 students at Cape Breton, Dalhousie, St. Mary’s, Acadia and St. Francis Xavier Universities and the largest student organization in the Maritimes.
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For more information contact:
Mark Coffin Executive Director
Tel: (902) 422 – 4068 Email: ed@anssa.ca
