Langara Students Union to Rally for Lower Tuition, Higher Student Funding

Mar 15, 2010

Langara Students Union to Rally for Lower Tuition, Higher Student Funding

This post has not been approved by Media Co-op editors!


For Immediate Release

Langara Students Union to Hold Rally at Moira Stillwell’s Office

Vancouver, British Columbia – March 10 2010 – A decrease in StudentAid BC funding and a freeze in grant funding for post-secondary institutions is leaving students in the red, according to the Langara Students Union Students Issues Action Committee (SIAC).  Langara Students Union Spokesperson Christopher Gordon stated, “Tuitions have literally doubled since 2001, average debt loads have skyrocketed.  Having an entire generation of the workforce drowning in debt doesn’t make economic sense.”

The LSU’s Students Issues Action Committee is rallying students on March 17th, 2010 to bring their concerns to the Minister of Advanced Education, Moira Stillwell.  The Langara Students’ Union, along with other post-secondary student advocates across British Columbia is calling on the BC Government to increase non-repayable student aid funding and grants to post-secondary institutions as part of a long-term strategy to reduce student debt load.

Currently, BC Students receive the least amount of non-repayable financial assistance in Canada, and have faced the sharpest increase in tuition fees in the nation since 2001, when the 1996 tuition fee freeze was lifted.

  “BC once had some of the most affordable education in Canada,” Gordon stated, “this has quickly changed to a situation where families and young people are saddled with enormous debts, the cuts have serious implications for the economic future of this province.”

A petition circulated at Langara College, containing over 1000 signatures will be delivered to Stillwell, who organizers hope will bring their concerns to the provincial government.

##