OrilliaMatters received the following letter from Michell Brown, a fourth-year Honours Bachelor of Social Work student at the Orillia campus of Lakehead University in response to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to change tuition rules.
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I am a Lakehead Student finishing up my fourth year in Social Work. (Earlier this week), the Ford government announced their changes to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) rules including lowering the threshhold level for income to be eligible and removing the six months interest-free grace period.
I want to say thank you to all those people who voted for the Ford government. They have successfully moved Ontario back to the 1990s and have ensured that the education system is for the elite only.
I went to school in 1994 for the first time and when I graduated it took me almost four months to get a job. Had I been charged interest in that time, my loan would have been much more significant. If the threshhold for income (had been similarly altered), I would not have been able to go in the first place.
After four years of university this time and not being given a grace period, my loan is going to be enough to buy a luxury vehicle in full.
This government has no interest in helping those of us who do not have disposable income move past the glass ceiling they have put in place with these changes.
There have been many changes that have a detrimental effect to our citizens, but none that are going to affect so many, increase the gap between rich and poor and have such a long-lasting impact as the OSAP changes will.
I love how the government acted like giving us a 10% break on tuition, which will average out to a max of $600, was such a favour. Two things about this, one the savings is not going to make a difference when the interest starts piling up, so the government will be getting more money from students, and two they are not covering the difference, so now schools are going to either find a way to cover the difference or start slashing programs.
Again I want to thank every Ontario citizen who voted for the Ford government. The Finance minister in September stated “...The hole is deep, and it will require everyone to make sacrifices without exception.”
I do not see giving a tax break to the upper class a sacrifice. I also do not hear the the premier or his cabinet saying they will take a pay cut. So again, no sacrifice. So who is going to make the sacrifice for the province's debt?
For the next election, I would like to offer some advice to those who will be voting for the first time. If how the party will make us better sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
If the party refuses to give exact numbers for cost or savings, ask yourself where is the money going to come from?
Ford never once offered any precise figures about how he was going to reduce our deficit, now we see why. Had he said he was going to make these changes and cuts during the election the outcome may have been a very different government.
I hope that the schools in Ontario do not take this sitting down and that all student unions can come together to let the government know just how hard we had to fight to get the changes we did two years ago.
It is too late for me as I am out of school this year, but I feel all the students in Ontario have to remind this government that we are one of the most fierce and determined groups in Ontario, and if you want to take us on, be ready for a fight.
Michell Brown
Lakehead University (Orillia)
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