Students Concerned with EPI Report

For Immediate Release Februrary 26, 2009

(Halifax) – The Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations (ANSSA), representing 75% of undergraduate, professional and graduate students in Nova Scotia is concerned with recommendations made in a report released yesterday by the Educational Policy Institute.

The report, titled “On the Brink: How the Recession of 2009 Will Affect Post-Secondary Education,” outlines a number of potential outcomes that this recession will have on the post-secondary sector.

While many predictions outlined in the report are likely an accurate representation of the times to come, ANSSA is concerned by some of the suggested policy responses, specifically the suggestion to “allow tuition increases.”

While ANSSA is acutely aware that government and institutional funding is tightening, accessibility to education must remain a top priority if Nova Scotia wants to emerge as a power player in the new economy. “An investment in students is an investment in our collective future as a province. We have spent the last decade reconciling cuts to post-secondary education during the last recession. Let us not make the same mistake again,” says Kelly Wilson ANSSA Executive Director.

Nova Scotia, year over year, continues to be the least affordable post-secondary jurisdiction in Canada. Last year, the Government of Nova Scotia made a funding commitment to freeze and reduce tuition to the national average by 2010-2011. “ANSSA looks forward to the maintenance of this promise and an ongoing commitment to affordability and accessibility of post-secondary education in Nova Scotia,” says Matt Risser ANSSA Chair.