Free Tuition for Youth in Care at UNBC
Prince George, B.C. – UNBC has announced it will waive tuition fees for students who have grown up in the care of government.
By doing so the school has followed the lead of Vancouvert Island University (VIU).
The school says the waiver will cover the full tuition cost of a first undergraduate degree or certificate for a young person who has spent time as a youth in care under the provincial Child, Family and Community Services Act.
“Youth in care face a tremendous number of barriers during childhood and adolescence,” says Social Work Professor Glen Schmidt, who pushed the proposal forward at UNBC. “By waiving tuition fees for those youth in care who decide to attend UNBC, the university is removing another potential barrier and providing more young people with the opportunity to meet their educational goals.”
The waiver follows a challenge put forth last year by BC’s Representative for Children and Youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond.
“Waiving the cost of tuition is an important first step toward inspiring children and youth in care and giving them the opportunity to succeed alongside their peers,” says Turpel-Lafond. “It eliminates a major barrier to higher education and is a sound investment in our province’s most vulnerable young people.”
To qualify, prospective students must be residents of BC, currently live or recently have lived as a youth in care, and meet all the admission requirements for the program they wish to enter.
The waiver is renewable each year the student maintains satisfactory academic standing until the student completes a first undergraduate degree or certificate program.
Comments
i hope the admission requirements are well thought out. I used to work in the child care field and because of that this plan worries me. Also I hope there is a grade point ave they must maintain to keep the funding for this.
This kind of funding always leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Families who have two working parents just getting by don’t get this and yet they have been paying taxes all their lives but can’t afford for their kids to attend post secondary. So their kids have to take out loans to persue their post secondary goals yet kids who have been looked after by the government now get a degree from us tax payers as well?
A lot of these kids have not gone into care homes by choice. It is altogether a very sad situation. Perhaps some of them have good ambitions but feel overwhelmed in getting started to achieve them.
In my opinion, I would be very happy to see some of them get a foot up to succeed in life. Those that really want to, for instance.
Two of my sons worked and took out student loans to get the educations they wanted and for which I wasn’t able to provide.
They were not in provincial care and have both done well for themselves.
I would like to see more kids, with the ambition, get a little boost to succeed too. It will solve a lot of otherwise costly solutions down the road.
Full support for the concept. However, will the net result be that the provincial government just reduces support for these students in another way. In other words, a claw back. If so, then UNBC and other students just take it on the chin for trying to help out this group of disadvantaged students.
I had two parents working hard and paying taxes and I had to take out student loans and I 100% applaud this decision. I was incredibly fortunate to have those two parents guiding me, helping look for and secure housing, helping with silly things like getting a phone line and hydro without having to pay ridiculous deposits, providing a place to retreat to for holidays, helping me talk out tough assignments over the phone…all sorts. I can’t imagine being out in the world at that age without a family to call on. No, this won’t help every low income kid. But it goes after the very most vulnerable and that’s a darn good start.
So we will have a big discussion on this subject without knowing how many youth we actually have in care, how many will graduate (using anecdotal information) how many are located in North Central BC., and how many that will go on to University.
Nor do we know the cost of this program to UNBC. I suspect that their enrollments are so low that they can absorb youth in care into the classes without any additional costs.
There is an upside for UNBC of course and that is that they are funded by the number of Full Time Equivalent students enrolled. So if this is a big success it could increase their funding to off set the cost of lost tuitions.
I suspect that at some point UNBC will approach the Government to pay the tuition fee’s for these students.
Palopu you would be very surprised at how many kids are in care.. A very large number. Well over a hundred just in PG.
I have never had a problem giving anyone a hand up.. Just don’t agree when it’s a handout.
Here is another insight Palopu … UNBC (and CNC) are funded based on FTEs budgeted (a negotiated number) and NOT actually on FTEs delivered. UNBC and CNC under produce on actuals versus funded FTEs every year. So there is no financial windfall to UNBC for taking on these students.
Your point on no additional costs for filling an empty seat is valid (as long as the student enrolls in an under performing program).
Actual number of students likely to take advantage of this option. Very small. Potential impact on those who take full advantage of the opportunity and complete a degree. HUGE!!!
UBC is going the opposite direction with education.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-s-vantage-college-canadians-need-not-apply-1.2826142
WELL spoken LHL………..SOMEONE was telling me that CANADA AND THE USA ARE THE ONLY TWO COUNTRIES IN THE G8 THAT CHARGE STUDENTS FOR POST SECONDARY EDUCATION
Many of the kids in care don’t have the marks to get in to university. Nor are they able to support themselves for the 4-5 years it takes to get a degree. For some it might be more practicable to get a 2 yr diploma from CNC. (Looking at the wages when coming out I’m not sure it’s worth the extra 2-3yrs of school) Is CNC going to be offering this as well?
There is no such thing as a ‘free’ education. The costs have to be picked up by someone.
lhl- I am with you on this one.
JohnnyB … You are absolutely right ..some one does pay …. the graduating students pay more than enough to cover their education at higher tax brackets because they are making higher wages than the non grads… ultimately they pay for their own education in fairly short order… however, in North America we don’t play the long game … it is almost like we don’t want an educated work force … hmmm …
Yeah, Johnny, I paid a tremendous amount for my education and now I get to pay again in the rather large taxes I pay due to higher wages I make as a result of my education. I applaud any effort to educate the disenfranchised so they have a vested interest in society.
Well let’s lookk at it from a different angle… If someone actually meets all the requirements and graduates with a degree they will no longer be a burden to the tax payers, they will actually become one. They will no longer be relying on us to pay for them. And in turn hopefully have a family that has a good, happy, non child care life.
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