NDP announces plans to make education affordable

Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has announced the NDP plans to make education affordable for everyone. Horwath said: ?Every year the cost of education keeps climbing. Ontario is now the most expensive province for post-secondary education. We need change.

PHOTO CREDIT - OntarioNDP.ca

Cornwall - Sep. 16, 2011 - Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath has announced the NDP plans to make education affordable for everyone.

Horwath said: "Every year the cost of education keeps climbing. Ontario is now the most expensive province for post-secondary education. We need change." The NDP plans will freeze the tuition fees for college, undergraduate, and graduate university students over the next four years and will eliminate the interest on the provincial portion of student loans.

SDSG NDP candidate, Elaine MacDonald, welcomed the announcement. MacDonald stated : "Ontario has the highest tuition fees and lowest per capita spending on post-secondary education in the country. Under Dalton McGuinty, Ontario undergraduate and graduate students saw tuition fees rise by 30 %. As tuition fees continue to rise, it will quickly overwhelm the Liberals' recently announced 30% rebate." MacDonald said that too many college and university students are graduating with huge debts to pay off.

Horwath also announced that the NDP will end the practice of charging fees for courses in Ontario high schools. Furthermore, the NDP will reduce school reliance on parent fees and fundraising and will provide parent councils with a new per capita grant to allocate to clubs, teams, field trips, special events, and presentations.

The local NDP candidate and former high school department head, Elaine Macdonald, explained: "A growing reliance on fundraising and fees has created have and have-not schools. The NDP plans for education will eliminate that disparity between schools and make education more affordable."

Horwath concluded: "In a global economy, our prosperity as a province will be measured by the quality of our education system and by how accessible that system is. New Democrats can be trusted to provide affordable education."