In preparation for the release of the provincial budget, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) put forth its key priorities for the 2011 year last Monday afternoon.
OUSA president Meaghan Coker presented the studentsโ recommendations to Ontarioโs Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, with the priorities broken down into three main areas: access to post-secondary education, investing in universities and increasing student success.
โWhen we make our decisions for the year weโre able to identify which priorities we think are the most important and time and time again financial accessibility and improving the [Ontario Studentsโ Assistance Program (OSAP)] and grant systems,โ said Coker. โOne of our priorities that we like to focus on is the fulfillment of the Liberal Partyโs platform commitment to reallocating tax credits.โ
In the Liberal Partyโs 2007 platform, they committed to restructuring the tax credit system for parents with children in university. Currently, the tax credit system is of much more benefit to families of higher incomes, something that OUSA believes is clearly backwards.
โPeople with higher incomes can receive a credit of $2,000, while someone with a lower income receive $520,โ said Coker. โItโs a large amount of money the governmentโs investing, but right now itโs not being as effective as it should beโฆ We obviously think it should go to the families that really need it.โ
According to Coker, the Ontario government currently invests $330 million into financial assistance programs; however, the money is not being utilized properly. In addition to rearranging the current setup of the tax credit system, OUSA is also proposing ways of more effectively using the money to aid students.
Some alternatives proposed by OUSA include: investing in upfront grants as opposed to tax credits, performing a tuition freeze and aligning parental contribution restrictions when it comes to OSAP.
โItโs just redistributing the money so itโs more effective than it is now,โ said Coker. โThere are a lot of students who get shut out of OSAP because their parents make too much money, but a lot of them still really need it. If we change the parental contribution we can open the access to OSAP for those in a middle-income situation.โ
In addition to improving studentsโ financial assistance program, OUSA is proposing a greater financial investment from the provincial government in universities as a whole.
โOntario is unfortunately sitting in a situation where we are paying more in tuition fees than any other province and the government is also contributing less per student than in any other provinceโ said Coker. โThe students are paying more and the province is paying less.โ
Whether or not these studentsโ priorities will become a reality will be seen in March when the Ontario government releases its annual budget.