Last week, the Government of British Columbia became the first province to submit a budget for 2019-2020.  The province’s finances are in exceedingly good shape, with a surplus of over $1.5 billion (though the government is hiding most of that using various tricks like contingency funds, forecast allowances, etc).  On a nominal basis, the increase in spending on post-secondary was a pretty amazing 5.7%, which was the biggest increase in a decade or so.  That sounds like very good news, but once you factor in inflation (2% or so) and the effect of the new employer heath tax which replaces the old Medical Services Plan premium (1.95% on salaries, so call it about 1.4% of total expenditures), and the fact that $12 million has been set aside for specific initiatives in skills, trades, heath and technology, what you’re actually seeing is about an extra $34 million in real dollars in to institutional budgets, or about a 1.7% increase after inflation.  Better than a punch in the mouth, obviously, but not quite what the headline suggests.

The other big news in the BC budget is that the government has eliminated interest on provincial student loans (note: BC students will still have to pay interest on the 60% or so of their loans which come via the Canada Student Loans Program).  This is projected to save borrowers $31 million annually; however, the program also comes with a one-off $225 million write-down because this move isn’t just about removing interest from future loans – it’s about retroactively eliminating interest from *all* outstanding loans. 

Now, eliminating interest on future loans is arguably somewhat more progressive than a tuition-freeze since the only people who benefit from it are those with demonstrated financial need.  It’s still pretty sub-par: no one has ever, to my knowledge, ever credibly provided evidence that loan interest rates make much difference to access.  And to some degree it can still be seen as regressive to the extent that some of the biggest debts get racked up by those heading into high-income professions (e.g. law, dentistry, medicine), though that’s maybe not as prevalent a factor in Canada as it is in the US.  Mostly, it’s just a free-transfer of cash to the future middle-class, maybe to help them get middle-classier just that extra bit faster.  But, at least you can claim need basis so you can *pretend* there’s an access issue at stake.

But if we are going to prioritise access, then we can only say that this is a poor policy.  Consider: the Government of British Columbia has $315 million sitting around, potentially available for improving higher education access, and the best use they could think of for it was to spend tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars on borrowers or ex-students.  The ones who’ve already finished their studies.  Really.

I almost have no words for how misguided it is. $300-odd million that could have been invested into a targeted free tuition program to make postsecondary education more affordable to the students and families who need the most assistance. They could have designed a grants system that would have had both real access effects and had genuinely redistributive qualities.  Instead, by far the majority of the money being spent over the course of the next three years will go to people who have already finished their studies.  In many cases, students who are 5-10 years out of school.  There is not the faintest possible rationale for this in terms of access.  It’s windfall gains to people who, in many cases, are already pretty well off.

You remember a few weeks ago, when the Conservative government in Ontario cut tuition and I remarked upon the way modern conservatives don’t care about the market, they just care about getting a few extra dollars in taxpayers’ pockets?  Well, similarly, what this budget suggests modern New Democrats apparently don’t care so much about access or institutions so much as they care about getting a few extra dollars in taxpayers’ pockets.  It’s the same instinct at work: short-term gimmickry over long-term policy. 

So instead of actually progressive access policy, we have this tawdry piece of naked middle-class bribery, and the unfortunate sight of student leaders actually applauding it. 

Maybe we should not have expected more from the BC NDP, but this is a massive missed opportunity to invest in a truly redistributive program. Plus ça change.