Most voters in Newfoundland and Labrador would like to see free tuition for university and college students, a newly released poll says.
A Decima Research poll commissioned by the Canadian Federation of Students found that 83 per cent of respondents would like the provincial government to provide a "gradual increase" in post-secondary funding "to the point where it provides free education" for students.
Abolishing tuition fees is not realistic, PC Leader Danny Williams says.
(CBC)
About 58 per cent of the 477 people surveyed strongly agreed with the question, while an additional 25 per cent said they "somewhat" agreed.
A full-time post-secondary student in Newfoundland and Labrador currently pays about $2,600 a year for tuition.
While fees have been frozen since the last Liberal government, CFS would like to see the fees abolished.
The NDP's platform in the campaign for the Oct. 9 election calls for scrapping fees, while the Liberals are advocating a reduction of 25 per cent.
The governing Progressive Conservatives are promising to continue the current freeze.
PC Leader Danny Williams said abolishing fees would be unrealistic.
"We've had to really stretch, and we stretched particularly the first year [of the PC mandate] to have tuition frozen. That's cost us a lot of money to do it," Williams told reporters.
NDP Leader Lorraine Michael, though, thinks the goal can be achieved.
"I think it's a reasonable request," she said.
CFS representative Katherine Giroux-Bougard said student debt loads have been increasing, despite a freeze on tuition fees.
"A stunning 77 per cent of current full-time students polled felt they might be forced to abandon their studies due to financial reasons," she said.
Student Josh Bourden said the fees freeze will do for now.
"I'd be happy to see them free. But, realistically, that's not going to happen, you know," he said.
The average student debt in the province is about $22,000.
The Decima poll was conducted between Aug. 16 and Aug. 19, several weeks before the writ was dropped for the election.
The poll has a margin of error of 4.9 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
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| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PC | 43 | 0 | 43 | 69.56% |
| LIB | 3 | 0 | 3 | 21.98% |
| NDP | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8.21% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .25% |
| Last Update:October 9, 10:58:12 PM NDT | ||||
| Unofficial results were updated at the time shown. For more recent results, visit Elections NL. The CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites. External links will open in a new window. |
NL Votes 2007 »
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