NEWS RELEASE
SAULT COLLEGE STUDENTS’ UNION
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In partnership with over 75 post-secondary student associations across Canada representing over 1 million students, Sault College Students’ Union (SCSU) signed a letter voicing its collective disappointment with the provincial government’s Jan. 17 announcement.
The announced changes regarding OSAP, tuition and ancillary fees (non-tuition fees) raise red flags for our students and their families. We firmly believe it lacked proper consultation with students and was a step backwards.
Each year, hundreds of students are elected across Ontario on promises to keep our institutions accountable, to ensure the health and safety of our students, and fill crucial gaps that our institutions do not provide, such as: transit passes, health and dental plans, peer-to-peer support, on-campus student employment, support services like food banks and more. The Student Choice Initiative puts all of this at risk and threatens the post-secondary student experience.
This is not just a provincial concern. This could set a national precedent that has a measurable impact on the student experience and campus culture across the country. Students will be less safe, more vulnerable to failure and less able to gain the skills and work-related experience they’ll need to find jobs after graduation
To further this point, President of the SCSU, Jonathan Boyer-Nolan and Vice President of Student Life and Director with the College Student Alliance, Ali Hassan, met with MPP Ross Romano yesterday at his office. The MPP was receptive and open to feedback from the executives at SCSU.
The representatives shared many concerns of the direct impacts these changes will have on the students now and well into the future. The meeting went well and SCSU feels that the direction and feedback they have provided to MPP Romano will be taken to his government for consideration.
For more details, please find the letter linked here.
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