Education is a Right

The Education is a Right Campaign was developed in response to a blatant attack on education in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) that resulted in the end of a 20 year-long tuition freeze for NL students and exorbitant funding cuts to Post-Secondary Education. The end of the tuition freeze resulted in a 150% increase in tuition for NL students, a 104% increase for Canadian students, and a 97% increase for international students.

For the past decade, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has been backing away from it’s commitment to making education in NL the most accessible in the country by way of funding cuts. With the drop of the report from the Premier’s Economic Recovery Team, we are seeing recommendations that the funding to education be cut by $66.3 million over the next 5 years.

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a decrease in funding coupled with the drastic increases in tuition will result in students paying a third of the province’s deficit.

Students are the present and future of Newfoundland and Labrador. We need our government to come up with bold solutions to bring and keep students in the province that are built upon justice:

• Immediately increase funding to Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic
• Investigate and implement a tuition-free post-secondary model for all students who wish to study in Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Implement comprehensive support packages for students that allow students to cover the cost of living and education-related expenses.