Gallant Liberals pitch expanded university tuition programs

Brian Gallant promised a re-elected Liberal government would expand the free university tuition program by raising the maximum family income to qualify from $60,000 to $70,000.

Speaking at the University of New Brunswick Saint John, Gallant told reporters 6,319 students benefited from the free tuition program in 2017.

A relief program would also be strengthened for students who do not qualify for free tuition.

• Too early to celebrate success of free tuition program, critics say
• STU the odd school out as universities reach funding, tuition deal
• 'They exaggerated': Liberals 'announce big' then disappoint, say PCs

It is currently a sliding scale program based on a maximum family income of $75,000.

Gallant promises to raise the income cutoff limit to $123,500.

He did not reveal the cost to expand the twoprograms, saying the information would be included in the party's submission to Elections New Brunswick in coming days.

"This is an investment that is going to give us a great return because it's going to help ensure more New Brunswickers stay in our province, are able to study in our province, are able to contribute to having the best workforce possible."

Reaction among students

The Liberal Party has also not projected how many students could be expected to benefit from the proposed changes to the two programs.

First reaction was positive on campus as classes opened for the semester Tuesday.

"I personally didn't qualify for the free tuition rebates," said Mark O'Connor, who was with a group of first-year engineering students on an outdoor walkway.

"But I love to see they're bringing it up because more people that can take advantage of it the more people that come to school, especially for the higher -priced [programs].

"I think all of us are in engineering or computer science, so they are the more expensive ones. It would be nice to have more people be able to come into those fields."

'Could do a little more'

Fellow engineering student Hunter Bell did qualify for the free tuition program.

"That helped a lot," said Bell. "I'm glad that they're doing something about it. I think they could do a little bit more though, just to help more families, because it does cost a lot."

The New Brunswick Student Alliance was likewise bullish on the widening of the programs. Executive director Emily Blue says 7,744 students benefitedfrom the existing versions of the programs.

"It has increased access for sure," said Blue.

"That's approximately 78 percent of the students that we represent."

The association would like to see the programs expanded to cover part-time students and law students. It also wants credit checks dropped from the application process.

According to estimates provided by the Department of Post Secondary Education, Training and Labour, student financial assistance programs cost $49.8 million in 2017, a drop from 2016, when earlierbenefit programs cost$61.5 million.