Children In Care in B.C. To Receive Free Post Secondary Education
Prince George, B.C.- Premier John Horgan has announced B.C. is waiving tuition fees for B.C.’s children in care.Premier Horgan says reducing the barriers “Is the least the Government can do.” He says once an individual has hope, and has people ” who have their back, they can achieve anything.”
The Premier says the program will provide a better future for former youth in care.
All 25 public post secondary institutions will have programs in place with the aid of the Ministry of Advanced education and the Ministry of Children and Families.
This program – previously only available at 11 public post-secondary institutions – provides tuition waivers to former kids in care, who are less likely to have access to post-secondary education or training than young people who grew up with family supports.
“We’re in a position to make life better for young people who grew up without family stability,” said Premier Horgan. “By bringing down barriers to opportunity, and making advanced education more accessible, we can clear the path to success for these young people.”
Students accessing the program must be:
* from British Columbia;
* aged between 19 to 26 years; and
* have been in care for a minimum of 24 months.
“Education can mean the difference between a life in poverty or a life of prosperity. It’s an important equalizer because when we lift people up, all our communities benefit,” said Melanie Mark, Advanced Education, Skills and Training Minister. “Giving former youth in care the opportunity to access post-secondary education and skills training along with the tools needed to complete their studies will empower them to thrive.”
Comments
Free tuition is great, but what are they expected to live on while they attend school full-time? Living costs outstrip tuition costs at this point. What about books and supplies?
I hope they limit the kinds of programs people can take. We don’t need to plow $40+k into another useless arts degree, so our baristas can be well rounded. Just give them free library cards instead. Oh wait, library cards are already free. Problem solved.
What about low income families?
May just have to give my kids up for a couple of years…
Was thinking the exact same thing…
I think it is an excellent step, enabling students who would otherwise not be able to get a post secondary education to do so. What I do not like is that some people on this site, no matter what altruistic action an NDP government takes, must always make some kind of negative comment. Never see the good, always say the bad.
ammonra, a few days ago I asked you if you had noticed the massive deficits that our various left-of-centre governments in Canada are running, are projected to run and are likely to continue to run for the foreseeable future. This includes Justin’s Federal Liberal Circus, Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario Liberal disaster, Rachel Notley’s Alberta NDP nightmare and now BC’s very own Horgan NDP atomic bomb abour to blow up!
You indicated that you hadn’t noticed! For crying out loud, I believe that even the HuffPost and the Tyee have made mention of these deficits!
How on earth could you not have noticed?
Harper ran up massive debt after Chretien and Martin paid down the deficit during their terms. The right wing BC Liberals put BC in massive debt. Clark ran the deficit up $10.85 billion during one four-year term alone! They did this while jacking up taxes for families while giving the filthy rich and corporations massive tax cuts. I’ll take the NDP and progressive policy over any right wing government.
blink, do yourself a favour and do some research!
The Harper Government ran deficits at a time that the economy was going through one of the worst global economic meltdowns in decades. They ran deficits during a minority government situation, with the insistence of both the Liberals and the NDP!!
Canada came through that meltdown as the envy of the developed world!
The Canadian economy is currently doing quite well, so why the need for Justin and Co. to run massive deficits, projected for years to come?
The BC Liberals just left the NDP a huge surplus. Any bets on what’s going to happen to that and what’s going to happen over the next few years, or as long as Horgan and Co. last?
The NDP and progressive policy? Oh right, that’s the policy of tax and spend for every “progressive” whim put forth by snowflake after snowflake! The removal of the tolls from both the Port Mann and the Golden Ears bridges is one such example. Already it would appear extremely likely that this action will result in a downgrade to our Provincial Bond rating, resulting in higher borrowing costs for our NDP Government as they tax and spend and spend and spend!
Hang on to your wallets!
Grammar lesson time not so smart Hart Guy!! Check when to use capital letters and when not to. Check back with your grade 4 teacher on the spelling of about. Kudos to you too buddy.
Hart Guy, I recall saying that I did notice the massive debt that the Liberals have lumbered us with over the last 16 years, so how come you completely ignore that/ It seems to me that you always defend debt when used by rightist governments and condemn debt when used by centrist ones. Almost like you have a doubles standard.
Incidentally, I live in BC, not Alberta nor Ontario, and I have never voted for the Alberta NDP nor for any party in Ontario. Don’t condemn me for Trudeau’s actions, either, since I did not vote for him nor do I support him.
As to why I have not noticed, it is that no budget has been introduced yet. There is no specifics on what is to be spent, nor whether Horgan will continue the Liberal’s practice of borrow and spend on corporate tax breaks, although I doubt the latter will a major plank. Before there is a debt or deficit we need a budget. You do understand that, don’t you? Or are you engaging in crass, biased politicking.
ammonra, me, engage in crass, biased politicking? Heck no, I just like cranking you “save the world and everybody in it” types!
Speaking of deficits, this April 27, 2013 article from the Tyee is quite interesting. It states, during a period of Liberal Government no less:
“In short, B.C.’s fiscal position is quite manageable. And we can comfortably afford to run modest deficits for a number of years.
Notably, while much is made of provincial government operating deficits, the rise in provincial debt has been driven much more by capital spending on infrastructure than by annual budget deficits. For example, while last year’s deficit was $1.2 billion, taxpayer-supported capital spending totaled $3.7 billion, as has been the trend for many years.
In the charged environment of an election, there is a risk of deficit and debt hysteria making an unwelcome comeback. Shock value is sought when noting that B.C.’s debt is at “an historic high” (in straight dollars), without noting that our economy and population have also grown.
While B.C.’s taxpayer-supported debt is projected to be about $42 billion in 2013/14, we are a wealthy province with an annual income (GDP) of well over $200 billion (projected to be $233 billion in 2013). That puts our debt-to-GDP ratio at about 18 per cent — which is pretty good on the heels of a recession — and is projected to stabilize at that level over the next couple of years. It’s not an historic high, and, in fact, it’s the envy of most other places, as the charts below show. As the first chart shows, B.C.’s debt-to-GDP is the third lowest in Canada.”
“Yes, B.C’.s debt-to-GDP level is now higher than the 13 per cent we reached in 2008, but this shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. We just went through the deepest recession we’ve had in 30 years. Of course debt would be higher than what it was during the boom — that’s what should happen.”
I’ve picked and chosen a few paragraphs that paint the Libs in a good light! There are comments that are critical of the Libs, but all in all, things under the Liberals were not nearly as bad as you and the NDP would lead us to believe!
So, now what’s changed with the NDP? Well, there is a very good chance that they and their cohorts in the Green Party are going to do their very best to shut down industry in this province, industry that pays taxes, industry that provides good long term family supporting jobs, industry that affords us the ability to be able to effectively and comfortably manage our “debt”
Time will tell, but I wouldn’t bet the farm in favour of Horgan and Co.!
ht tps://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/04/17/BC-Deficits/
ice, ENGAGING IN A BIT OF THE WHACKY TOBACKY TONIGHT?
SORRY, MY CAP LOCK KEY IS STUCK!
Oops, fixed now!
CHEERS!
DAMN, STUCK AGAIN! ;-)
Chretien and Martin had a scheme to rob employees of their EI contributions to the tune of billions annually luckily they lost the election and that came to an end and rates dropped. Chretien’s government increased the national debt more than they lowered it, same as Harper’s – he also had surplus years the most recent was the year the Liberals squandered it all away in a few months before the year ended.
HartGuy:”Notably, while much is made of provincial government operating deficits, the rise in provincial debt has been driven much more by capital spending on infrastructure than by annual budget deficits.”
Good thing to start the day with! Thank you! That is the big difference when comparing years of BCNDP government and years of BCLiberal governments! After the troubled ten years of NDP I looked around and asked myself what the doubling of the debt and the new have-not status had accomplished! Very little if anything as far as infrastructure was concerned! A couple of projects, one that built a stretch of highway and the other which turned out to be a mega flop! Where did all the money go?
Education is the cornerstone of our society. Anything we can do to improve the education of our neighbors, friends, co-workers, children and immigrants is a good thing. I’m glad the NDP are doing it, it’s about time the government did. To bad the Liberals worked so hard to make it difficult to get an education. But then again, it’s more difficult to pull the wool over the eyes of your sheep if they’re more intelligent than you.
Children in care, ages 19 to 26?
26?
At what age does the NDP think that people are no longer children and as such should be able to fend for themselves?
Age 26? Probably politically incorrect to suggest that people should accept some responsibility for themselves long before age 26!
The article says that the program will apply to those aged 19 to 26 who had been in care for at least two years. It did not say that children are still in care at age 26, nor does it say that 26 year olds are considered children, in fact, the article refers to them as, “former kids in care”. Please do learn to read with comprehension, Hart Guy.
Fuzzification at its finest! So suppose I was at some time during my childhood in care for let’s say two years, but since then I have not been in care and now I am 19 – now I will get my education paid for by the government? That is fair to non-“former kids in care” and the taxpayers? Many non-“former kids in care” between 19 and 26 are working, some on two part time jobs or more to earn money so they can pay their own tuition? That is extremely discriminatory and downright unfair!
If I was 25 or 26, and I still needed the Government to do for me what I should be doing for myself, I might still consider myself a child!
Some people think that it’s the government’s job to wipe their butt for them, from cradle to grave! Others might consider those people to be children!
Bingo!
There is no such thing as a free education, at the end of the day someone has to pay the costs associated. Fully subsidized education would be a more suitable description.
That may be so, but it applies equally well to everything else as well, like the Caribou Connector, UNBC, UHNBC and medical treatment, and every single service provided by government. However, we are a nation and a province, and the whole concept of nationhood and provincehood is that we elect people to represent our interests with the intention of accomplishing things in the common interest. This is one of them.
Socialism is a lot about making people as much relying on government as possible. Once they have to be dependent on financial support from the government they are hooked! They will not and actually can not vote the government out of power because then their financially funded government support may be on the line!
The former satellites of the USSR in Eastern Europe are a good example of how people end up like puppets on a string, being told where to work, where to live and what the could buy! No rewards for personal initiative and natural desire to determine once own fate! I have seen it with my own eyes!
Typo correction: once should be one’s, the should be they. Sorry.
Here is a suggestion, the New Democratic Party ought to change its name to what it really is: SDP, meaning Socialist Democratic Party.
Talking about fuzzification, not one of the carpers bothered to mention that this is an expansion of an existing program already in use by the previous Liberal government. The article says it was, “previously only available at 11 public post-secondary institutions.” So much for it being a “socialist” bugaboo. Perhaps we are to believe that those students using the program under the Liberals were being altruistically helped, while those who use it in future under the NDP are to be condemned for not working for their education. I believe it is a good thing, and I really don’t care whether it is a Liberal initiative or an NDP initiative. In either case it will help students otherwise unable to do so, to obtain an education that will likely improve their lives.
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