Thousands of Alberta students deprived of financial aid

Since last summer, more than 2,300 Alberta students with low financial resources have found themselves deprived of the assistance that facilitated their access to the province’s basic learning assistance programs.

In August, the provincial government announced that it would reduce the budget allocated to funding these programs by $34.7 million for the coming year.

These programs help people who are marginalized or have low resources to take courses that help them prepare for higher education or access the job market.

These include English courses, which are often useful for newcomers, as well as post-secondary education preparation courses for Indigenous communities.

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For eligible students, the funding not only covers tuition fees, but also school materials such as books and computer programs, as well as transportation and even daycare costs for children.

Federal funding in question

The provincial government justifies these funding reductions by stopping, last summer, the supplements to the federal bilateral labor market agreements (LMDAs).

In all, the interruption of EDMT resulted in a $70 million reduction in federal funding for Alberta programs, half of which is in the education sector.

For its part, the federal government indicated that the provinces had known since 2017 that the additional funding would end in 2024.

Alberta’s Minister of Higher Education, Rajan Sawhney, responded that the provinces were nevertheless trying to negotiate new agreements to maintain financial support from Ottawa.

My role is to make sure we have enough premises, places and support [financier]she said.

Students mainly affected

In response, many postsecondary institutions have been forced to limit or stop accepting applications for these programs.

The College Bow Valleyfor example, reports losing $760,000 in funding, preventing some 700 new students from enrolling in academic remedial or English classes, a 43% reduction since last year.

In addition, the College had to lay off 19 employees assigned to these programs, as explained by one of the establishment’s spokespersons.

This is a challenging time for our students in basic learning programs, many of whom are learning reading and writing skills or upgrading to enter a university program and pursue a careerdeclared the vice-president of the college, Michael Crowin a press release.

At the University of Mount Royal, In Calgary, funding for these programs fell 38% compared to last year, while the drop was 35% for the École Polytechnique de Red Deer.

For its part, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) suffered a 31% funding loss. The result is a reduction in enrollment by almost half in academic remedial and English programs.

Peter Leclaire, the vice-president of BORNindicates that these students often remain in BORN before taking health sciences, trade or engineering technician and chemical engineering courses.

These programs have proven themselves and allowed people to access more interesting jobs, and we would like them to be maintainedhe emphasizes.

With information from Janet French