The cancellation of Ann Coulter’s speech at the University of Ottawa was not a victory for her opponents, who celebrated shutting her event down last night; it is a victory for the organizers who paid for Coulter’s (non)appearance.
The organizers of Ms. Coulter’s Canadian tour have hit the public relations jackpot: Their tour is the lead [...]
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“University students are expected to pay back so much money, plus interest, after furthering there [sic] education when most do not start getting a livable salary right after schol. [sic] Why is there not more assistance when it comes to student loans?” crazy4u79 asked Mr. Harper.
Mr. Harper spent the next minute and 15 seconds speaking in generalities and did not really answer the question.
“One of the things that is obviously a big concern to us over the past years, we know that younger people and new graduates have been particularly hard hit in the recession,” he stated to begin his response to the question. “That’s why we’ve introduced a number of specific programs in the last couple of years.”
I went to Ottawa and covered the 2008 Federal Budget for Maclean’s. The government did introduce changes to student loans, but they were administrative in nature and didn’t provide any substantive relief to student loan payees. The student loan system was broke both administratively and financially.
The government addressed a lot of the administrative problems and Mr. Harper’s administrative changes have helped make the student loan repayment process easier, but his government did nothing to address the overwhelming financial problems with the Canada Student Loans Program that destroys the lives of so many recent graduates.
Mr. Harper has refused to lower student loan interest, refused to increase the grace period for students to find jobs, and did nothing in the last budget to truly address the issues facing recent graduates.
To add insult to injury, one of the programs he cited in response has nothing to do with the question. The Prime Minister cited Pathways to Education as one of his government’s “specific programs.” The problem is that Pathways to Education does not assist recent graduates. The word “pathways” should have been a hint to the Prime Minister.
Mr. Harper’s record on the student loan file is weak and he couldn’t defend it. To use Internet lingo, his answer was a “HARPER FAIL.”
Posted in Education Tags: administrative changes, administrative problems, answer, assistance, budget, Canada, canada student loans, concern, couple, Education, education question, FAIL, Federal, federal budget, file, Gallery, generalities, government, grace, grace period, HARPER, hint, hit, injury, insult, insult to injury, interest, Internet, interview, lingo, loan, lot, Maclean, minute, money, Mr. Harper, nature, night, nothing, number, online, Ottawa, Pathways, pathways to education, period, post secondary education, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Prime Minister. Mr. Harper, problem, process, program, question, recent graduates, Recession, record, relief, repayment, response, right, salary, schol, stephen harper, student, student loan interest, student loan repayment, student loan system, student loans program, system, University, word, YouTube Comments OffPrime Minister Stephen Harper took to YouTube last night to answer questions from Canadians. At 31:29 in his online interview, Harper received a post-secondary education question.
“University students are expected to pay back so much money, plus interest, after furthering there [sic] education when most do not start getting a livable salary right after schol. [sic] Why is there not more assistance when it comes to student loans?” crazy4u79 asked Mr. Harper.
Mr. Harper spent the next minute and 15 seconds speaking in generalities and did not really answer the question.
“One of the things that is obviously a big concern to us over the past years, we know that younger people and new graduates have been particularly hard hit in the recession,” he stated to begin his response to the question. “That’s why we’ve introduced a number of specific programs in the last couple of years.”
I went to Ottawa and covered the 2008 Federal Budget for Maclean’s. The government did introduce changes to student loans, but they were administrative in nature and didn’t provide any substantive relief to student loan payees. The student loan system was broke both administratively and financially.
The government addressed a lot of the administrative problems and Mr. Harper’s administrative changes have helped make the student loan repayment process easier, but his government did nothing to address the overwhelming financial problems with the Canada Student Loans Program that destroys the lives of so many recent graduates.
Mr. Harper has refused to lower student loan interest, refused to increase the grace period for students to find jobs, and did nothing in the last budget to truly address the issues facing recent graduates.
To add insult to injury, one of the programs he cited in response has nothing to do with the question. The Prime Minister cited Pathways to Education as one of his government’s “specific programs.” The problem is that Pathways to Education does not assist recent graduates. The word “pathways” should have been a hint to the Prime Minister.
Mr. Harper’s record on the student loan file is weak and he couldn’t defend it. To use Internet lingo, his answer was a “HARPER FAIL.”
Posted in Education Tags: administrative changes, administrative problems, answer, assistance, budget, Canada, canada student loans, concern, couple, Education, education question, FAIL, Federal, federal budget, file, generalities, government, grace, grace period, HARPER, hint, hit, injury, insult, insult to injury, interest, Internet, interview, lingo, loan, lot, Maclean, minute, money, Mr. Harper, nature, night, nothing, number, online, Ottawa, Pathways, pathways to education, period, post secondary education, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Prime Minister. Mr. Harper, problem, process, program, question, recent graduates, Recession, record, relief, repayment, response, right, salary, schol, stephen harper, student, student loan interest, student loan repayment, student loan system, student loans program, system, University, word, YouTube Comments OffMichael Ignatieff is on a cross-country tour this week and the Conservatives are howling “Ignatieff Prorogues Himself.” Ignatieff’s absence from Parliament is of little interest to students, but what he’s saying during his latest cross-country tour is.
Ignatieff told a group of high school students in Newfoundland that he will be proposing changes to the Canada Student Loans Program during the next election. He says he will lower the interest rate on federal student loans and will propose a loan-forgiveness program for graduates working in the public service.
CSLP is in serious need of reform, especially the interest costs placed on students in repayment. The federal government charges a 2.5 per cent above the prime interest rate for student loans. Most provinces charge 1 per cent above prime with a few charging only the prime rate.
A lot of borrowers who are in collection are there as the result of a punishing payment schedule that fails to account for the economic situation facing recent graduates.
Ignatieff states that the federal government needs to take a leadership role in post secondary education by creating a dedicated transfer payment for post secondary education.
To encourage universities to recruit, enroll, and graduate students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, Ignatieff proposes the federal government create financial incentives for schools.
These ideas represent good public policy. For many years, post secondary education policy has been driven by political desires to funnel money into schemes that will deliver votes from upper-middle to upper class families.
During the 2008 federal election campaign, the Liberals proposed replacing current federal tax credits with in-study grants, to provide significant relief for student loan borrowers in their repayment phase, to create more needs-based grants, and to guarantee every student a loan of $5,000.
Ignatieff’s appears to be making post secondary education a major part of his pre-campaign speeches. If he continues, Canada may finally have a serious debate about higher education.
Posted in Education Tags: absence, campaign, campaign speeches, Canada, canada student loans, cent, charging, class, collection, cross country tour, CSLP, debate, economic backgrounds, Education, election, federal election campaign, federal student loans, federal tax credits, financial incentives, government, Graduate, Group, high school students, interest, leadership, leadership role, loan, loan forgiveness program, lot, Michael Ignatieff, money, need, Newfoundland, Parliament, part, payment, phase, policy, post, post secondary education, prime interest rate, program, Prorogues, rate, recent graduates, reform, relief, repayment, result, role, schedule, School, Service, situation, student, student loan borrowers, student loans program, study grants, tax, tour, transfer, upper class families, week Comments OffThe First Nations University of Canada’s latest series of financial mismanagement scandals – incredibly frustrating to all who want to see successful models of aboriginal higher education – are much the same as previous ones: alleged mismanagement of funds, questions about the diligence of FNUC’s board of governors, and a former senior administrator suing the [...]
Posted in Education Tags: aboriginal, aboriginal students, administrator, Board, board of governors, Building, Canada, certificate, College, community, cut, degree, diligence, diploma, Education, fact, federal governments, federal liberal party, federal ndp, Federation, federation of saskatchewan indian nations, financial mismanagement, first nations university, first nations university of canada, FNTI, FNUC, FSIN, fund, funding, governance, governance structure, government, home, inaction, Indian, institute, Institution, leader, Liberal, mandate, master, Masters, mismanagement, mobility, model, Mohawk, mohawk nation, money, Nation, Nations, nbsp, NDP, offer, Ontario, outreach, Party, percentage, population, post, Queen, question, range, Regina, regina leader post, Regina Leader-, research, role, Ryerson, s board, Saskatchewan, saskatchewan indian nations, scandal, scholarship, scholarship fund, secondary options, series, social mobility, story, Structure, success, Technical, territory, time, Tyendinaga, tyendinaga mohawk territory, undergraduate, University, university of canada, wheel, Wilfrid Laurier, wrongdoing Comments Off
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