NB’s Career Colleges Are Not Pleased With Government
FREDERICTON – Not everyone is pleased with the province of New Brunswick’s much heralded “free tuition” announcement.
On April 14 the provincial government announced a new Tuition Access Bursary that will provide upfront financial assistance to students from families with an annual income of $60,000 or less and who attend a publicly funded university or college in New Brunswick.
The big word here being “publicly funded.”
The new program excludes all of New Brunswick’s regulated career colleges, such as Oulton College and Eastern College. And the operators of those colleges aren’t happy with the change.
Oulton College president Darcie Robichaud says private career colleges should have been consulted about the new program. Earlier this year, Ontario made a similar tuition announcement, but included the career colleges.
“With [Oulton] student loan repayment rates being higher than the average community college repayment rate, it is interesting that we would not have been consulted as part of a potential solution to funding models for all students,” said Robichaud. “In Ontario, private colleges are included in the tuition incentive program. The reality is that public tuition was 86 per cent subsidized by the government prior to this announcement and this was an opportunity missed to include private businesses as part of the potential solution to the government’s financial concerns.”
Robichaud said she would have liked to have seen a different model instead.
“For several years I have felt that, and have been asking that the government consider a funding model that would be for all students and institutions. Funding the student directly with a determined amount, while allowing them to choose the institution and career choice they want to pursue, would be ideal,” she said. “It would also be less costly to government and more effective if tied to student success.”
The National Association of Career Colleges (NACC), has also spoken out against the change.
“While this is welcome news to some, the government is neglecting to include students choosing to attend regulated career colleges,” said Serge Buy, CEO of the NACC, in a release. “Regulated career colleges offer specialized training typically not available in public institutions. Leaving these students out of this major announcement seems short sighted.”
Robichaud said it’s unclear on wether or not the colleges will be planning any further action.
“I think it would be fair to say that collectively we are all concerned. Without access to the information on how this came about or what the eligibility guidelines are, it is hard to say what action is required,” she said.
“It’s very confusing about why our province’s regulated private colleges would not be included in this announcement, as our counterparts in other provinces were included in similar provincial announcements.”