April 8, 2019
EDMONTON – The Green Party of Alberta candidate in Edmonton-City Centre says he would prioritize eliminating the large financial burden faced by post-secondary students in the province.
Chris Alders believes “we are saddling our young people with inordinate debt just as they are entering full-fledged adulthood. It is wrong and irrational to do this. We created this systemic inequality and as a prospective MLA I pledge to work to eliminate it.”
Data produced by the Canadian Federation of Students indicates that those who can’t pay their tuition up incur over $10,000 more debt than those who can. Barriers to post-secondary education access, and completion, are especially onerous for students from low-income situations, including Indigenous students and students of colour, trans/LGBTQ2S students, students with disabilities, and those from single-parent households.
States Alders, “universities and other institutions have come to view their own students as a cash cow. These entities have seen a tripling of revenue from tuition fees since 2001. Instead of embodying a sense of community, they have modelled themselves on, and been susceptible to the worst tendencies of corporations. We need Green Party MLAs so that we can move beyond the bleak present.”
The Green Party candidate asserts that the starting point for such an overhaul is “replacing student loans with non-repayable grants. Also, students are underrepresented on the Boards of Governors of these places of learning. The modern university seems to place a higher value on buildings and upper-echelon officers than students. So, along with lightening the financial load of students, we need to bring about governance reform. On April 16 we as a community can move to recognize and rectify the egregious inequality in our midst.”
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For more information, please contact:
Chris Alders
Green Party of Alberta Candidate for Edmonton – City Centre
Email: chris@chrisalders.ca
Phone: 780-242-1621