Candidates address student debt

Across Canada, the average tuition per year is $6,373

The Okanagan Saturday

Student debt limits access to post-secondary education, say local B.C. election candidates, who would like to see interest on student loans eliminated or decreased.

“Student debt is a massive problem,” said Rainer Wilkins, Green candidate for Kelowna-Mission. “I’m 50 years old, and I have friends (who) are still carrying debt.”

Wilkins said he would like any student who is interested in postsecondary education to have the ability to do so, regardless of income.

“We’re looking at implementing something to help with regards to interest-free loans to help pay back the debt that’s been accrued, but ultimately, the ideal situation would be students don’t have to incur debt to (get) post-secondary education,” he said.

Shelley Cook, NDP candidate for Kelowna West, is currently a PhD candidate at UBC Okanagan.

“As a student myself, I am well aware of the challenges,” she said. “Increasingly, I am seeing that as something that is becoming an advantage for only the most wealthy.”

Cook said the BC NDP will eliminate interest on B.C. student loans.

“Leaving with mounting debt limits their options around home ownership, around many of those other things they’re trying to do to build their future,” she said.

The NDP has also promised to provide $1,000 in student loan relief when students complete their post-secondary programs.

Norm Letnick, Liberal candidate for Kelowna-Lake Country, said the Liberals plan to lower the interest rate on student loans to the prime interest rate and maintain the annual two per cent cap on tuition increases.

“You can offer free education, but then you either have to raise taxes to pay for it or cut services somewhere else, like health care,” said Letnick.

“We’ve taken the position that it’s better to have very small increases available to universities and colleges, like a two per cent cap, so that they can continue to have more resources to put in the programs that they do and also invest heavily in the Central Okanagan and in our facilities and programs so people can actually stay at home.”

Investing in UBC Okanagan and Okanagan College has allowed many students to live at home and save money, said Letnick.

“The fact that we are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in local capital means, in large part, they can stay home, so they can save on their living expenses.”

From 2015-16 to 2016-17, undergraduate university tuition in B.C. rose 2.5 per cent up to $5,534 per year, the sixth highest per cent change in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

The lowest change was zero per cent in Newfoundland at $2,759 per year, and the highest change was an increase of 5.6 per cent in Nova Scotia up to $7,218 per year.

Across Canada, the average tuition per year is currently $6,373 per year.