The Chronicle Herald: Fewer locals seeking higher education in N.S.
Thursday, December 11th, 2008Number attending post-secondary institutions has dropped 9% since 2004, survey indicates
The number of Nova Scotians seeking a higher education in their home province is still slipping, says a report released Wednesday.
During the 2007-08 school year, 25,096 people who call Nova Scotia home chose to stay and study in this province, says this year’s enrolment survey by the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Committee. This compares with 25,354 students in 2006-07, about a one per cent drop.
The change might seem slight, but commission CEO Mireille Duguay pointed out that the number of local students attending post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia has dropped by 9.4 per cent since 2003-04.
Nova Scotia isn’t the only province struggling to persuade students to crack the books on home turf. The number of Maritimers attending universities in all three provinces has fallen by 7.8 per cent since 2003-04.
The report also shows that total student enrolment continues to decline across the province and the region, with a six per cent decline in Nova Scotia and a 5.5 per cent decrease throughout the Maritimes since a student population peak in 2004-05.
“The main issue that universities will be confronted with is simply fewer students altogether to attend any university,” Ms. Duguay said Wednesday over the phone from Fredericton. “These students (are) making choices based on a number of varying factors, going from . . . the range of programs offered, the experience they want to get out of their university education (to) whether they have to leave or not and the cost of doing so.”
But Leonard Preyra, the NDP post-secondary education critic, says the high cost of staying in Nova Scotia to study probably plays a major role in the numbers.
Nova Scotia still has the most expensive undergraduate tuition on average in the country, at $5,878 in 2007-08, according to Statistics Canada.
Mr. Preyra said that’s why the province needs to step up its financial assistance for post-secondary students, including what he calls a true needs-based grant program that provides money up front instead of through a rebate program.
Education Department spokesman Dan Harrison said the government is doing what it can to help its 11 universities retain students from here and abroad.
Earlier this year, Education Minister Karen Casey agreed to a three-year memorandum of understanding that includes a tuition freeze, annual bursaries for local students and one-time bursaries for out-of-province students. The government also announced a new grant program that chops off the first 20 per cent of provincial student loans.
But Kelly Wilson, executive director of the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations, said Wednesday she still hears from high school students who say they they’re planning on heading to Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador because tuition is “significantly less.”