' must be

While an effective AFS/ FEA can benefit Atlantic Stu— dents in a number of ways, ‘perhaps its greatest service to students lies in its abil— ities to voice our concerns and promote our interests to .Atlantic governments. Certain- ly, the driving motivation to establish and build the AFS/ FEA has been to provide this service. To provide an opp‘ ortunity to identify‘our com— mon concerns and to express these concerns to government bodies and related agencies associated with post~second- ary educati in the region. Many c 1e concerns outlined bel y have already been identified by the AFS/ FEA as C“ n problems facing all Atlz c students. It ressad that only lity among all student can we hope to in- fluenc. the policies of our governments on these matters.

through

Financing Post-Secondary Education

The financing of post- secondary education is probably the single most crucial issue affecting both the quality of and the accessability to ed- ucation in the Atlantic. Government decisions relating to the degreecof public financial support to our trade schools, colleges and universities will determine, among other things; —The degree of curriculum development; -The extent of graduate pro— grams and research projects; —The teacher—student ratio; —The quality of libraries and other auxilary services;

/ —New building facilities and

other capital projects; —The level of tuition, resi— dence fees and food costs

to students.

During this current per— iod of "fiscal restraint", both federal and provincial governments are siezing upon the opportunity to cutback public support to higher ed- ucation and other social ser— vices.~ Many of these are far out of proportion to the cutbacks imposed in

other sectors of public

spending. In the short run, our governments may consider post-secondary education an easy target for financial cutbacks. The long term effects of this withdrawal of public support may have disasterous consequences for post—secondary education in this region and in Canada as a whole. Vrst~eecondary students in the Atlantic are already paying higher tuition fees than anywhere else in Canada. Further increases in costs to indicidual students—- projected by the recent agreements between the federal

and provincial governments whereby the provincial governments will no longer ‘ have to justify expenditures of tax dollars and may refuse to subsidize education to the extent that they have in the past——will place greater financial burdens on all present and future students.

Post—secondary education especially at the university level,'will become even more inaccessable to the low income, sectors of the public. As well, for those who can still afford it, education will suffer cut- backs in quality.

However, the critical; financial situation can be improved through unified student work. It must be recognized that the major financial cutbacks to post— secondary education are not as a result of a uniform ‘ "anti—inflation" restraint program. It is rather the result of a wholesale de- priorization Of education as part of our government's public spending responsibilities.

Through our unified voice- in AFS/FEA we can express our concern over this government policy change. We can inform. the public of our positions, gain their support, and demand that our governments justify the actions which they take, if, indeed, they are able. Student Aid

AFS/FEA strongly supports the basic concept of government subsidized student assistance programs to aid students who are in financial need. Such programs should be a step toward making access to post— secondary education more equitable among Canadians.

However, many aspects of the various student aid programs available to Atlantic students are not fulfilling the criteria for promoting_this equality of

accessabilitv. Low living allowances,

arbitrary parental contribution

; AFS * : ' working for v students

h

requirements, unrealistic summer earnings at a time when the Atlantic, in particular,v is facing incredibly high unemploymentr-these are some of the exanples Of areas in the student aid programs which are more and more forcing low-income people to either mortgage their future or,

more simply, not consider post-secondary education.

{—V— ~r~ \ -‘~\/ x. .Thots r‘c‘. enough ?$onnu, E505. gets ‘

see Stale 100*» and some 3335 "'

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u v ' TmnoN content»!

tam} E‘stnskm ‘Vb

In the past students have shown that htye can have an effective voice in helping to determine student aid policy. -This input is best attained by students working together in a collective effort to represent student needs to the government. ,‘

With the advent of the' MPHEC,_the Maritime provinces, and possibly Newfoundland in

the near future, are increasinglyto involve more students 1“

moving towards unification of

\ educationsl policies

Student and programs are becoming more and more similar.

Increasing yearly, statistics show that unemply— ment reached an all time high last summer, especially in, the Atlantic-provinces. Many Atlantic students who depend on summer employment to assist in the financing of their education were unable this year to continue their studies.‘

Vthe needs of all Canadians.

*not consist of college or

_ commitment of financial supm

, studentsiwhene [issue-s affect

,Much of last enmmers unemployment was the direCt result of government decisimu to cut empldyment programs, The governmentshadidevelOped programs‘designedfiflflfififlp ’low employment areas of the country—-the Atlantic. In fact, before the program was quashed, a full 25% of the Opportunities for Youth grants were awarded in this area. '

Due to student pressure, the government has introducw stop-gap measures for the coming summer. There is stin much room for improvement. Students in the Atlantic must join with other Canadifl students to insure that the government's employment policies reflect both the long term graduate and the short term summer employment needs of students and, indeem

Other Issues

For many Canadians post-secondary education doa

university but rather other forms of learning-emanpower training programs are one of these.

“Here too, the federal government has‘cutback its

In another issue facing Canadians: some governments are beginning to impose restrictive and discriminam legislation against foreign students who wish to study m Canada. Much of this legislm presently being introduced n Alberta and Ontario, affects students from the Third Worm countries who comprise some 50% of international studenm in this country. Many of ths students come from countries with no post—secondary education Systems of theiro

These and many other issuem inadequate housing,-the stam

of women at pOSt-secondary institutions, the worsening conditions for support staffi at institutions--all demand the attention of Atlantic students. The complexity

of the issues requires a stronger and better prepared .student voice. As well, local work must be done

solving thse problems. This then, is the dual role of AFS/FEAr-to inform and assist local campuses in dealing with thses varimfi issues in terms of how they affect their individual institutions, and secondly, to initiate and co—ordinate action betweennAtLanfiicW

the entire“<region."' Co-ordinated effort Ona regional basis will soon be only way to positiVely inflfi‘ our Atlantic governments- '