Student groups in Alberta are saying that the recently announced provincial budget will not help students facing the affordability crisis. Students’ Association of Mount Royal University VP Tala Abu Hayyaneh said that the budget does not address the factors that currently make postsecondary education unaffordable, while Council of Alberta University Students Vice-Chair Naju Syed noted the lack of new grant money. “The student loan program saw an increase … but we really wanted to see that increase within student grants, which better offset the cost of rising tuition for students,” said Syed. UAlberta Campus Food Bank director Erin O’Neil and Syed each noted that students are increasingly turning to campus food banks as a result of the financial pressures on students. The University of Calgary’s Students’ Union told CBC that the budget is “an indirect cut on a post-secondary education system already on life support.”
