Economic News/Trends and Analysis — February 8, 2010

Giving Quebec students their due

MONTREAL, Feb. 8 /CNW Telbec/ - The Concordia Student Union (CSU) welcomes the announcement made last week by the Hon. Christian Paradis, Minister of Natural Resources about the Canada Student Grants Program's (CSGP) $125.8 million transfer to the Quebec government conducted on February 3, 2010.

"Even if students are displeased with the delay, which still hasn't been clarified, we demand the Quebec government to invest the full amount of this transfer in Student Financial Assistance without any delays" said Amine Dabchy, CSU president.

The amount transferred exceeds previous distributions made by the Millennium Scholarship Foundation by nearly $45 million. The total amount of this grant is purposed for students and should be used as such. Quebec students would not allow a repetition of the 2007 incident, where the transfer was used to work out the fiscal imbalance.

The CSU insists that the Charest government properly allocates these long-anticipated funds directly through the Student Financial Assistance office to the Quebec students who are gravely in need.

Recent research shows a strong rise of student indebtedness over the course of the past 5 years. Also noteworthy is the rapidly growing rate of student unemployment, which further tips the student debt balance.

"The CSU requires that this matter be resolved without any delays and that Quebec students benefit totally from what was intended for them".

For further information: Aoub Muntasar, VP external, Office, (514) 848-7474 x8906

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