Student Union meet with Minister of Education

MacCallum, UPEISU President, and

Bruce Davison, UPEISU Vice Presi- dent External, met with the Paul Connolly, MLA, the Minister of Education and the Deputy Minister to communicate to them the concerns of UPEI students. The following is taken from 1 summary of the meeting presented by them at he January 10th meeting of the UPEI Student Council:

Specifically, the three objectives of the neeting were: 1) to present the minister with ver 200 letters addressed to him from UPEI tudents calling for: an end to the freeze on unding allocated to the University of Prince ‘dward Island, a reversal to cuts to the Provin- ial Bursary Programme, and far better treat- hent of part-time and mature students by the ducational system, 2) to discuss with the Min- ter the grave consequences of the freeze on ding to UPEI and, 3) to voice UPEI students’ treme displeasure with and problems created cuts to the Provincial Bursary Program and discuss with the Minister the future need for ¢ Bursary Program. The meeting lasted ap- oximately 45 minutes.

- Letters to the Minister -

| letters to the Minister signed by UPEI dents to that date were delivered and re- ived by him (complete with festive ribbon dbow). The concerns expressed in the letters te then used as a starting point from which to ch discussion on funding and accessability.

- Funding Freeze -

behalf of the students we represent, the point ‘ made that the University budget has been ined to its absolute limits. Any further €ze on funding will have dire consequences the quality of education at UPEI. Mr.

O n Monday, December 21, 1992 Michelle

REASED. Although it appeared that they Ned to our concerns attentively and were to state that no extraordinary austerity Ures would be put in place as had been last year, Mr Connolly informed us that

- Student Aid -

'o our meeting, it had been feared that, Wing the recent elimination of Provincial

Grants in Ontario, our bursary program (as inadequate as it is) might also be in trouble. Thankfully, the Minister assured us that the PEI bursary program will be left in place. Unfortu- nately, the cuts made to the program in the last Provincial Budget (making very many students ineligible) will not be reversed. We explained how inadequate student aid, skyrocketing tui- tion, inadequate funding, and a host of other factors are making a university education impossible fora large and ever-increasing group of students. The Minister and Deputy Minister listened and agreed with a great deal of what we were saying. We also discussed at length rap- idly changing student demographics -- how more mature students are going to university, more students are simply going to university part-time for economic reasons, how more stu- dents are having to spend more time working

than their academic loads can afford, and stu- dents are having to spend longer periods of time to get their degrees due to decreased course loads that result from higher costs. Also the sad truth that the present student aid system almost COMPLETELY IGNORES the unique needs of mature students, part-time students, and stu- dents with children. We agreed to meet again next semester, especially after we have had time to further research student demographics. Summary:

Overall, the Meeting with the Minister was a success at least as far as he is now aware of our concerns, even if we did not yet change govern- ment policy. This meeting should start the UPEI Student Union Council on a much more vocal stance as we represent our members on the provincial political scene. @

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