A pilot program that will allow 50 people on social assistance to keep their money while attending university comes up short, critics charge.

"I would have thought this program would have been better thought out by the time we got here today," Liberal MLA Stephen MacNeil said Thursday as the program was announced.

Community Services Minister Judy Streatch says Career Seek will help people on social assistance go to university or an educational program longer than two years.

To qualify, applicants must have received assistance for a year and have chosen post-secondary education as part of their job plan.

They also have to complete a career assessment to find the right courses to get a job.

Career Seek won't cover all of a student's fees. Participants have to access whatever funding sources they can, and the program will fill "gaps" in their budgets, Streatch said.

MacNeil called the program "bad policy."

He said it blocks most welfare recipients from getting a post-secondary education and is vague about financial assistance.

It's unclear what university programs will qualify as job-oriented, MacNeil added.

"No one seems to know what those fields will be," he said.

Student leaders also criticized the policy as "small potatoes."

Streatch says 200 people will take part in the program over the next four years, with the first participants starting class in January.

The province has been cutting social assistance for people who want to go to university since 1999.