The Citizen, 2005-10-13, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2005.
Higher learning comes at high cost for students
Studying hard
With tuition costs rising, local area secondary school students are facing big challenges to find funding.
(Heather Crawford photo)
By Heather Crawford
Citizen staff
Dalton McGuinty’s
announcement that tuition
will be rising could cause area
high school grads to stay
home and work.
Gordon Brigham, a Grade
10 sludent at Cenlral Huron
Secondary school in Clinton
said alter watching his sister
go through post-secondary
education, “the whole thing
seems like a bunch of
trouble."
lasing in Blyth means
having to move away from
home for post-secondary
school and pay for rent,
utilities and other costs on top
ol tuition. The idea of debt
and finding funds he
suggested, is deterring him
from pursuing post-secondary
school.
Brigham said i‘’s easier to
stax in town and work. For
now he is trying to save as
much money as possible for
the future working at his
uncle’s shop.
Brigham’s mother, Pat said
hei daughter MaryBeth. who
graduated several years ago
I tom a two-year course is still
Councillor votes against
resurfacing o f runway
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
('ouncillor James Campbell
voted against a motion to
resurface the runway at the
Wingham Municipal Airport.
As the airport generates
limited revenue for the
township, but is rather a
serv ice. Campbell said he had
a problem spending the
money. “I am concerned that
we have streets to fix, where
all the money is going to
come from. It's going to bog
us down
I lie motion earned.
< ampbell also took issue
paying off her debts.
“If tuition goes up it will
take even longer to pay off,”
she said. “When [students]
graduate there's no guarantee
they’ll get a job. and if they
do they'll be starting out at
the bottom of the pay scale.”-
Katie Harrison a Brussels
native who recently
graduated from teachers
college in Thunder Bay after
completing a four-ycar
undergraduate degree expects
it will take her "a long time”
to pay off her student
loans.
“I needed to take out a lot of
loans in order to get to where
I am but now I have to put all
of this money back into
paying them off and so the
question in the end is whether
or not it’s worth it.”
Harrison said it is worth it
for her because she’s doing
what she loves.
“The government needs to
look at loan forgiveness, and
putting a freeze or a cap on
tuition,” she said.
When she was sitting in a
class with 500 other students
and one professor she
wondered where all of that
money was going, “because it
with a recommendation to
obtain quotes for a three-year
contract for plowing services
at the airport.
“We did talk about closing
the airport for winter,” said
Campbell.
Councillor Archie
MacGowan said that pilots
using the runway were
“receptive that in January
there may be a three-week
period when we could
close.”
MacGowan noted that the
committee has also looked al
options lor plowing such as a
shorter and narrower strip.
“This is a service we want
isn’t going to the professor.”
she said. She asks herself
whether she got the proper
education.
When looking back she
wishes she would have
worked her first two years
while in school.
"My parents didn't want me
to work at first because they
thought it would have been
too much with my school
work.” Now that she is
finished Harrison feels as
though it would have been a
good idea.
She advises ’ students to
apply to as many scholarships
and bursaries as possible
"because they are out there.”
For those needing financial
assistance to help pay the cost
of tuition the Ontario Student
Assistance Program (OSAP),
no longer takes parental
income into consideration
when identifying eligibility
for a loan.
This change came into
effect for the 2004-2005
school year.
According to the new
OSAP objectives. the
intention for the program is
to. “help students from loxver
and middle-income families
to provide. 1 realize how
serious the budget is, but if
we’re not going to take care
of the capital we have that’s
not good. That’s what I
believe we have done in the
past to cut costs and 1 think
we’re paying for it now.
We need to keep them up to
standards or make lough
decisions to get rid of
them.”
Prior to seconding the
motion, councillor Murray
Nesbitt double-checked that
this was just a
recommendation lo obtain
information.
The motion carried.
meet the costs of post
secondary education.”
For many students, the
change came loo late.
Ashley Gropp. formerly
from Brussels now residing in
Toronto did not find the
process of finding funding for
her education easy.
She participated in a
Queen’s Park press
conference on OSAP in 2001.
At the conference as reported
in the Conestoga college
paper. Gropp said she was not
granted any OSAP funding.
Their reasoning was solely
based on her parents’ income
for the previous year only,
overlooking the costs of other
siblings in school, mortgages
and other expenses, Gropp
said.
Even with assistance from
her parents, all of her
contributing factors led her to
take out a huge line of credit
from the bank for which her
dad had to co-sign.
Though she received other
assistance from her parents,
living in Toronto, was costly.
Rent alone was $6,000 per
year.
The three-year course in
which she was enrolled was
also expensive, with $8,000 in
program-related fees paid
annually.
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Harrison said when she was
applying for a loan the
application questions did not
ask for sufficient background
of her needs either.
“They didn’t take into
account any mortgage
payments [parents may be
making], or car loans.” She
said “[they make it] almost
impossible to get the full loan
amount.”
Jackie Cook, mother of
Katie Cook who is now
attending the University of
Western Ontario studying
chemistry said she found the
funding process relatively
easy.
Cook received a
scholarship, bursaries and
assistance from OSAP under
the new criteria.
“I was very impressed with
how feasible the government
makes it for low-income
families to pay for
university.” Cook said.
“Western isn't a cheap
school.”
The estimated cost of one
year at university for a student
living away from home is
$14,160 - $16,160 according
to the University of Western
Ontario website.
This cost is expected to rise
when the freeze on tuition is
lifted next school year.