Dear Colleagues;
As you know, the 2016 Ontario Budget was released today. The big item for higher education is a new grant program targeted towards low-income students, replacing the 30% Tuition Grant and Ontario Tuition Tax Credits. We have not fully run the figures yet, but this budget continues the downward trend in per-student funding.
Attached, please find OCUFA’s press release. We plan to distribute a more detailed analysis of the financial implications in the coming days.
In the meantime, please let me know if you have any questions.
Best Regards,
Graeme
Graeme Stewart
Director of Communications
Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations
17 Isabella Street | Toronto, ON | M4Y 1M7
416 979 2117 x232 | [email protected]
www.ocufa.on.ca | @OCUFA | www.facebook.com/OCUFA
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Professors welcome investments in student access, caution that Ontario still needs to invest in universities
TORONTO – Professors and academic librarians across Ontario are welcoming changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) to make higher education more accessible to low-income students, announced in today’s Budget. At the same time, they are reminding the government that new investment in universities is urgently needed to ensure that that every student has access to a high-quality learning experience.
“The new Ontario Student Grant (OSG) is an important step in helping students from low-income backgrounds access the many individual, social, and economic benefits of a university education,” said Judy Bates, President of the Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations (OCUFA). “Access is critically important, but we also need to ask: Access to what? Universities need adequate public resources to provide quality education for every student who walks through the door.”
Ontario currently provides the lowest level of per-student public funding to universities in Canada. Under projections released in the 2016 Ontario Budget, this situation will only get worse. When inflation is taken into account, funding for universities will actually decrease over the next three years, threatening educational quality.
Conversely, renewed public investment in quality would allow universities to hire more full-time professors and offer small, interactive classes, while creating cutting-edge classrooms, laboratories, and libraries. In addition, precarious employment is on the rise at Ontario’s campuses, and more financial resources would help promote good jobs for all. New investment is also needed to stop the unsustainable rise in Ontario’s tuition fees – already the highest in Canada – and make sure the financial aid reforms launched today are effective.
“It is encouraging to see the Government of Ontario invest in students,” added Bates. “Now we need to invest in universities to make sure those students – and every citizen of Ontario – continues to benefit from world-class higher education institutions. The Budget reiterated the government’s plan to reform the university funding model, and this is an ideal opportunity to address chronic underfunding.”
Founded in 1964, OCUFA represents 17,000 faculty and academic librarians in 28 faculty associations across Ontario. For more information, please visit the OCUFA website at http://www.ocufa.on.ca.