– Matt Mente, News Editor
During the provincial election one of the Liberal party’s biggest promises was a 30% tuition cut, and last week they came through…sort of. McGuinty has passed a bill giving grants of $1,600 to university students and $730 to college students. This does not have any actual effect on tuition fees themselves.
The grants are intended to come into effect very rapidly and should be available to students starting on January 1st, meaning many students will be receiving additional financial aid from the government in the winter semester.
Roughly one third of the students in Ontario will be eligible to receive this grant, any student deemed independent from their family, part time students, and families earning over $160,000 total income annually will not be eligible for these grants.
McGuinty discussed the decision in a press release.
“During these lean fiscal times, our government remains committed to helping our youth achieve success in school, go on to postsecondary education and get a good job, that’s why we’re making a smart choice to help families with a 30 per cent cut to tuition.”
This bill is not a popular one with opposition party leaders who question where the Liberals will get the money to cover the $201 Million in new spending created by these grants. Andrea Horwath points out that this will not stop tuition from continuing to rise in the future and claims that the NDP proposal to freeze tuition would be a better option.
