April 8, 1997

By DENISE RIDEOUT

ST. JOHN’S, Nfld. (CUP) — The Newfoundland government’s decision to cut social assistance to student parents will double the amount of debt they have upon gradu- ation say outraged student par- ents.

In last week’s provincial budget Brian Tobin's govern- ment cut funding for social services recipients attending

stsecondary institutions forc- ing recipients to take the maxi- mum student loan available. Previously student parents on social services were provided with living arrangements but were required to get student loans to cover their schooling costs.

The old system gener- ally kepttotal student debt lower for student parents, as it rec- ognized the added strain of raising children while getting an education. But now the

The Panther Prints

government has said student parents must get the maxi- mum student loan and social services will provide funding only if it is needed.

Joyce Aylward, a stu- dent at Memorial University and a mother of three, said she was shocked by the announce- ments made in the recent budget.

“Overnight the govern- ment turned around and effec- tively doubled the future debt load of the majority of student parents on the whole island,” she said.

Aylward said the new ruling was unreasonable and she was disgusted at how the government tried to present it as a positive benefit for stu- dent parents.

“The government made it seem like they were helping us out by giving us a bigger student loan,” Aylward said.

“But what they are really giv- ing us is a bigger student debt.”

Under the old system stu- dent parents only had to get a student loan of about $5,000 for a full academic year. Now that will almost double to $9,000 for two semesters.

Julie Fleet, another sin- gle parent attending Memo- rial, said the government cuts to social services recipients has gone against the many promises it has made to the women of this province.

In September 1995, Brian Tobin and ministers of his cabinet signed a non-legal contract with the women of Newfoundland and Labrador promising to help them over- come many of the struggles they have to face.

“We pledge to work for economic justice and to end the increasing burden of pov- erty on women and their chil-

dren, who are a majority of the poor,” the contract read.

But Fleet said that the announcements in the recent budget go to show that the government does not always uphold their promises.

“Even though the con- tract was not legally binding, the government of this prov- ince still made a promise to us,” Fleet said. “But now the government has broken these promises by increasing the debt load of single mothers.”

Fleet also said she be- lieves the provincial govern- ment has contradicted every- thing it has ever said about its policies towards social assist- ance.

“The government talks about getting people off social assistance and back into the workforce, but now it is mak- ing it harder for people on as- sistance to get an education,”

Student Parents hit hard by Budget

Fleet said.

Many members of the student parent society said they use the government has in effect hindered the future of many people in the province.

“Right now the govern- ment has built such an enor- mous barrier to getting out of poverty,” Aylward said. “And statistics show that the onl way out of poverty is eirourh education.”

Dale Kirby, provincial chair of the Canadian Federa- tion of Students, said the pro- vincial government should be prepared for a fight from sin- gle student parents in the prov- ince.

“If single parents are faced with a high debt after they graduate, there are going to be a lot of hungry an cold children out there.”