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Michael 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.