Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour / Office of the Premier

Tuition freeze and improved access to post-secondary education (08/06/26)

NB 953

June 26, 2008

FREDERICTON (CNB) - Immediate steps are being taken to make post-secondary education more student-focused, accessible, affordable and relevant.

Premier Shawn Graham and Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour Minister Ed Doherty today announced a series of investments as part of Be Inspired. Be Ready. Be Better. The Action Plan to Transform Post-Secondary Education in New Brunswick, which is designed to produce the best-educated and most literate population in Canada.

"These changes clearly demonstrate government's commitment to invest in its greatest strength: its people," Graham said. "To reach our shared goal of self-sufficiency, we need to place our future firmly in the hands of people, through their education and skills. By increasing support to students, New Brunswick can be better educated, and build on the foundation of this great province."

Addressing student financing is one of the most pressing issues facing post-secondary education. The government has put in place the following measures to help New Brunswick students finance their post-secondary education for 2008-09:

• a freeze on tuition for New Brunswick universities and community colleges;
• the $10,000 New Brunswick tuition rebate for post-secondary graduates living in New Brunswick will continue;
• the $2,000 benefit for first-time university students will be maintained in fall 2008;
• the assessment of parental and spousal income from eligibility calculations for New Brunswick student loans was eliminated in August 2007;
• the Futures to Discover program will provide learning accounts to 1,000 students per year to attend a post-secondary institution following high school. This program provides $2,500 per year, for a total of $10,000 over four years, to students from under-represented groups such as Aboriginals, minorities, and children from families who have not previously had post-secondary education;

The Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation Millennium Bursary program will continue.

"This federal program, used by 2,600 high-need New Brunswick students, is being phased out in 2009-10, and will result in a loss of up to $7 million in funding for New Brunswick students," said Finance Minister Victor Boudreau.

Boudreau said that he will immediately begin discussions with his federal counterparts to restore this vital source of funding. Subject to these discussions, further measures to enhance student financing outlined in the action plan will be announced for the 2009-10 academic year and beyond.

As part of the plan, the Government of New Brunswick will also work to improve student mobility through better credit recognition, transfer and admission criteria. It will also develop an e-post-secondary education strategy. The strategy will address potential initiatives, including:

• connectivity of the post-secondary education system, students, high schools, research centres and students;
• a student information portal;
• e-learning and distance learning;
• a single student identifier; and
• the establishment of a virtual New Brunswick library to be accessible to all New Brunswickers.

There will also be an initiative to increase the number of locations offering university courses. First- and second-year university courses leading to degrees will be offered throughout the province at community colleges in those communities with no university presence.

It will also be a priority to increase the number of graduate students by 855 within three years, from 2,145 to 3,000, including at least 450 in PhD programs.

"From the moment we launched the process of shaping a new vision for post-secondary education in New Brunswick, we maintained that it absolutely must be student-focused," Doherty said. "The strategies unveiled in our action plan clearly show that we achieved that goal. I am confident this action plan will enable more students to be inspired, be ready and be better as they study here in this province."

The government's plan to transform post-secondary education is available online.

08/06/26

MEDIA CONTACT: Elaine Bell, communications, Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, 506-453-2568.

08/06/26