Alberta university and college students would get a $1,000 break on tuition and a $300 credit to help them buy books and tools beginning this fall under a Liberal education platform released Friday by leader Kevin Taft.
Increased grants to post-secondary institutions would cover the cost of the promise, he said at a news conference at Edmonton's Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).
Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft promised Friday to lower university and college tuition.
(CBC)
"The long term of Alberta depends more on post-secondary education than on anything else. Long after oil and gas or forestry or whatever else comes and goes ,we know post-secondary education will carry us forward," he said.
Taft also promised that if elected on March 3, the Liberals would:
- Give the legislature control over tuition increases.
- Reduce interest rates on student loans.
- Lower or eliminate property taxes on student housing to lower costs.
- Expand bursary programs.
- Give Calgary's Mount Royal College status to grant university degrees.
- Improve student-faculty ratios.
Taft said the plan would ensure that post-secondary institutions stop turning away qualified students because of a lack of space, and provide an affordable opportunity for all who want to attend.
Students welcome lower tuition
Students attending classes at NAIT were quick to welcome the announcement.
"To drop my tuition by 1,000 bucks, that would be awesome," said Peter Ksiezak, a second-year electronics engineering technology student who figures he pays more than $4,000 a year for his courses.
"It's really good. He's striving to allow people to go into the education they want. It's not just for the upper class who can afford it," agreed Christina Sultanian, a student in the waste water technician program at the college.
Both the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary have announced tuition increases of 4.6 per cent this fall, raising tuition to about $4,900 for a first-year arts program.
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Alberta Votes 2008 »
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Riding Profiles
More Alberta Votes Headlines »
- It's 'Ed's Empire' after Alberta election sweep
- Political observers in Alberta are calling it remarkable and opposition politicians are wondering what hit them after Ed Stelmach guided his Conservative party Monday to one of its biggest majorities ever.
- Low voter turnout in Alberta election being questioned
- As Premier Ed Stelmach and Alberta Conservatives savour their sweeping election victory, some people are raising a nagging concern: why so few people bothered to vote.
- Albertans elect historic 11th straight Tory government
- Voters in Alberta stuck with tried-and-true blue, giving the Progressive Conservative party an unprecedented 11th consecutive majority government in Monday's provincial election.
- Political tide turns in Edmonton
- Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Ed Stelmach has proven true to his word, putting the "Ed" back in Edmonton.
- Conservatives' Calgary fortress resists change
- The Progressive Conservatives' fortress in Calgary stood strong as the party took 18 of the city's 23 ridings Monday night.
