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NLDL Member Steve Penney speaks to the Students at the National Student
Day of Action
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In November we announced our support for MUN student Travis Parsons’ petition calling for an end to interest on student loans. Travis estimates that in some cases interest on student debt can actually result in the original debt being doubled by the time it is paid off. The burden of such debt delays a person’s full participation in society by years.
Investment in education needs to come from all levels of government. With a recent $13 billion dollar surplus the Federal government has no excuse for not increasing levels of funding for education that have not recovered since the cuts of the late 80’s and early 1990’s. The Canadian Federation of Students estimates that an immediate $2.2 billion investment on behalf of the Federal government would be required to bring funding up to 1995 levels – this does not factor the surge in numbers of students that has occurred since then.
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Provincially we need to look at reducing debt levels and giving
graduates incentives to stay in the province when they’re done school. While
we have succeeded in having tuition reduced to almost the lowest in the
country we need to look at examples such as Manitoba’s - which recently
offered a $24000 tax credit to university graduates who relocate to that
province.
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Mr. Penney holds the beginning of a
long ribbon of signed petitions...
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In Quebec a generous bursary system ensures that the poorest students are
less burdened with debt by almost half of what it is in other provinces. In
the Northwest Territories student debt if forgiven if graduates remain there
for five years after graduating. Purse strings need to be loosened and we need
to start designing attractive incentives that will allow students to hit the
ground running when they graduate.
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... and we mean it when we say a long list of signatures. The
ribbon of
petitions was so long the gathered students had trouble keeping it off
the ground.
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Reducing student debt is an issue that should be a priority for everyone
in Newfoundland and Labrador. For years we have been experiencing the brain
drain from this province to the rest of Canada and from Canada as a whole to
the US and abroad. If educated and ambitious people need to go abroad to
escape crippling debts we lose out on their creativity, leadership and the
many economic benefits that such people bring to a place.
Convincing government to make reduction of student debt a priority will be an ongoing fight and I encourage all of you to stick with it and get the word out as much as possible.
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After a surprise appearance on the steps by Premier Williams the
signatures are recollected and given to him by members of the Canadian
Federation of Students.
Big thanks to NLDL members who marched, wrote letters, spoke-out and in
other ways supported the National Student Day of Action.
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Learn more about the NLDL and how you can 