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Category: Student Aid

New Student Debt Numbers

Just a quick one today on student debt and why it hasn’t been increasing. So, under conditions of near-total secrecy, Statistics Canada last month published the results of its National Graduate Survey for the Class of 2020. One of the most awaited numbers in this survey are those relating to student debt. With so many folks always assuming that student debt is “skyrocketing,” it is always a good opportunity for myth correction. For you see: student debt is not skyrocketing.

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April 8, 2024 1 Comment

Provincial Budgets 2023-24

Morning, all.  It’s time for our annual provincial budget round-up.  University Affairs has done its round-up of budget announcements; I’m here to put the whole set of financial commitments under the lens and give it some long-term context. A couple of caveats before I start. First, PEI is not included, for the simple reason that the government chose not to submit a budget before going to the polls a couple of weeks ago.  But, in the big fiscal picture of

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April 19, 2023 2 Comments

Two POVs on the Coming Student Grant Changes

The Canadian Alliance of Student Associations has started a new campaign, entitled #halfyourCSG.  It rails against the perceived risk of a 50% drop in the maximum value of the Canada Student Grant (CSG) come this fall.  This might be kind of a sleeper issue for PSE over the next few weeks, so it’s worth taking a look at what the issues are and how everything might play out. To recap the policy evolution here: in 2016 the Liberal government raised

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March 6, 2023 No Comments

Budget 2023’s Three Key Decisions on Students

There are three student-finance related measures to watch for in the upcoming budget.  One of them concerns graduate research funding and the other two concern student financial aid.  With this Liberal Government, one’d normally think all three decisions would land in favour of “more! more! more!”.  But there are faint signs that this government is starting to grasp that it has a real spending problem, and that makes these three decisions difficult to predict, for whenever the budget actually comes.

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February 13, 2023 2 Comments

The Politics of Student Loan Debt

I am sure most of my readers are aware of the Biden Administration’s plans to forgive student loans.  However, what may have gone under the radar is the way the current administration is staking a lot of money on an attempt to re-build the country’s student loan system.  The basics are this: the Democrats want to make student aid repayment easier in three ways.  The first is by raising the repayment threshold – that is, the income level at which

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February 8, 2023 1 Comment

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One Thought to Start Your Day is our founder and CEO Alex Usher’s popular daily blog, brimming with up-to-the-minute insights and informed opinions on today’s higher education industry.

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