OUSA

Hello.  My name is Sam Minniti, and I am the Executive Director of the McMaster Association of Part-Time Students (MAPS).  Since its inception in 1979, MAPS has steadfastly supported part-time students at McMaster University by relentlessly representing their interests, advocating accordingly on their behalf, and engaging in pertinent programming.  Today, MAPS represents approximately 3,000 students in each of the fall and winter terms, including undergraduate degree students enrolled in less than 18 units (a 60% course load), life-long learners enrolled at McMaster University’s Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) in certificate and diploma courses, and students enrolled in the Clinical Behavioural Science (CBS) post-professional diploma program.

Simply stated, many part-time students are distinctly different than their younger counterparts that have followed a more traditional, linear path directly from high school to post-secondary education and there are different reasons why students pursue higher learning on a part-time basis, ranging from financial reasons to reasons of disability.  Ultimately,  for the most part, images of young, students with access to government loans are replaced with adult learners balancing the demands of home, work, and courses, along with mortgage payments and child care, all the while not being eligible for Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).  It is with these distinctions in mind that MAPS sets out to represent, advocate, and provide services for MAPS members.  And now, as a result of joining the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), I look forward to working with OUSA, its member schools and OUSA’s post-secondary education stakeholder partners to keep them mindful of the non-traditional student.  In particular, MAPS is eager to learn more about the Ontario Online Institute as online education represents the ultimate in access for part-time students.

On campus, MAPS lobbies university officials and different levels of government to improve the part-time student experience on campus.  Recent advocacy files have included preventing the elimination of free tuition for seniors (students aged 65 or over), stopping the replacement of 3-year general degrees with 4-year general degrees, encouraging the University to relax certain requirements within the Mature Student Admissions policy allowing for part-time students to take more courses thereby accelerating their degree completion, and opposing the restructuring and prorating of existing and new undergraduate ancillary fees across student unions without the consent required by the provincial government within each autonomous student union.

In terms of student financial aid, MAPS has established and considerably grown a substantial bursary endowment program of over $1 million dollars, the interest of which approximately generates over $65,000 in bursaries each year in order to help part-time degree and certificate students with their expenses associated with pursing higher learning.  In addition to bursaries, MAPS has several awards, some of which have a financial component, which recognize the academic and extra-curricular accomplishments of our members.

-Sam Minniti
Executive Director
McMaster Association of Part-Time Students

On June 6^th, 2011, the Honourable Jim Flaherty tabled the 2011 Federal Budget in the House of Commons.

During this time of economic uncertainty, OUSA has articulated repeatedly that investments in improving the accessibility and quality of post-secondary education can be positively linked to future prosperity. While the Budget did not contain a bold new direction for post-secondary education in Canada, several new investments were made in student financial assistance, internationalization and the federal research agenda. Below, we have listed several items of note for Ontario students.

• The in-study work exemption on the Canada portion of student loans has been raised from $50 to $100 per week.
  Many students are unaware of the fact that students receiving public loans and grants are given a limitation on allowable income during the school year. This income is called the “in-study work exemption.” Income generated in excess of the per-week limitation is clawed back from one’s total financial assistance. Given the fact that rising tuition costs can be linked to increased in-study employment for students, this limitation has been a classic barrier to the affordability of post-secondary education. This change had fortunately already been in place on the provincial portion of OSAP loans since last year (the exemption is actually $103 per week). Matching the in-study work exemption increases means that Ontario students can now work close to ten hours each week at minimum wage without affecting the total amount of financial assistance received on both the federal and provincial portions of their loan.
  

• The expected income contributions for part-time student loans and grants will be harmonized with the full-time student expected contributions.
  All students must submit statements of income when applying for Canada Student Loans and Grants. As one might expect, the program expects students to contribute a portion of their pre-study and in-study income to the costs of their education. As well, contributions are expected from parental income for dependent students (those out of high school for less than four years). Until 2011, this need assessment expected more from part-time students than full-time, due to the higher tendency of part-time students to work during the study period. With these rates harmonized, more part-time students will be eligible for Canada Student Loans and Grants. For a more fulsome analysis of why supporting part-time students is important, you can see this blog from February.

• Part time students will no longer accumulate in-study interest on their student loans.
  While studying, full-time student loans do not accumulate interest. Part-time students however, have been subject to accumulating interest while in-study, despite a tendency to take longer to complete their studies. The Department of Finance estimates that in-study interest costs part-time students $5.6 million per-year. The elimination of this interest is welcome news, reducing overall part-time student debt.
  

• Tax credit and RESP eligibility for students studying abroad has been expanded.
  Currently, students enrolled internationally have to study for thirteen weeks to be considered eligible for Tuition, Education and Textbook Tax Credits or for assistance payments from Registered Education Savings Plans. The Budget proposes that this requirement be reduced to three weeks, harmonizing it with the domestic study requirement. Though this expansion of eligibility provides more monetary assistance to students hoping to pursue study-abroad opportunities, it does not necessarily equalize access to these opportunities. OUSA’s historic criticism of Tuition, Education and Textbook Tax Credits explicates our concern over their expansion.
  

• A new International Education Strategy will be created. Studies have shown that international students are often more likely to choose their study destination based upon perceptions of the host country, rather than province or institution. The federal government will be focusing on promotion, advertising and marketing initiatives to attract more international students to Canadian institutions. As this strategy is developed, students are hopeful that it will prompt examination and improvement in the federal, provincial and institutional supports provided to international students. Programs such as the Prime Minister’s Initiative for International Education in the United Kingdom effectively market to international students through the advertisement of robust student supports offered nationally, including publically subsidized health-care.
  

• Debt forgiveness for new family physicians, nurses and nurse practitioners who agree to work in under-served rural and remote communities.

• The federal government will test ways to help workers with foreign credentials subsidize the costs associated with the foreign credential recognition process.

Despite the lack of a much-needed pan-Canadian education strategy and more funding for post-secondary education to address high tuition and student debt, the expansion of financial assistance will certainly make a difference in the lives of students, particularly the one in five Ontario students who study part-time.

-Chris Martin
Director of Research

Hi I’m Kimberley Orr and I am the Vice president of University Affairs (VPUA) for the University of Windsor Student Alliance (UWSA). The UWSA represents 11,794 full-time undergraduate and professional students under the mandate of Advocacy, Representation, and Services. I hope this year to help the UWSA achieve these principles not only within the University of Windsor but throughout the province. In the past year Windsor students have been very fortunate that provincial funding has been targeted at the city and specifically at students. With the recent announcement to fund a downtown Windsor campus for the University of Windsor, I know that the year ahead will be an interesting one, full of new endeavours. I hope to see the Ontario government continue to support students across the province not just with capital building projects but also with services that are provided to students and the quality of education that students are receiving. Myself and the UWSA will tirelessly advocate this year to assure that students are receiving the highest quality of education possible.

-Kimberley Orr
Vice President University Affairs
University of Windsor Students’ Alliance

Greetings and thanks for reading my first blog post for OUSA! My name is Patrick Searle and I serve both as the Vice-President Administration for this organization as well as the Vice-President University Affairs at the University Students’ Council at the University of Western Ontario. I am so excited today to speak about my two roles and the next twelve months ahead.

First a little about me: I am a graduate of King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario, where I spent four years studying Religion and Politics, and how these two topics often intersect. I am from London, Ontario, and look forward to the year ahead spending both time on Western’s campus, but also in Toronto for OUSA events.

The Vice-President Administration of OUSA has the responsibility to oversee all of the policies and by-laws that exist within the organization. With a goal of ensuring OUSA continues to govern effectively, conduct research ethically, and remain student driven, this position is one that I look forward to serving as.  In the upcoming year, I plan on working on policies related to Human Resources and research methods, to make sure that how we operate and what we produce continue to be of the highest standards.

Back at Western, the Vice-President University Affairs represents all undergraduate students to the three branches of government, as well as the University, and advocates at all levels to enhance the educational experience and quality of life for all students on campus. Some of the highlights of this year to come are definitely the provincial election in October, introducing Open Data initiatives to the USC and the University to increase transparency and student support, and hosting the annual Early Outreach conference for Grade 8 students next May.

I look forward to many more of these blog posts over the next twelve months, as well as working with the great Steering Committee OUSA is privileged to have. As Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  Over the next year, I’ll be keeping this quote close to my heart, as well as the passion and conviction that this young child has regarding overcoming challenges and embracing success.

Until next time, thanks so much for reading!

Best,

Patrick Searle
Vice-President Administration for the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
Vice-President  University Affairs for the University Students’ Council at the University of Western Ontario

Student Partnership

Over the past year OUSA has had the opportunity to work with the Ontario Student Trustees’ Association (OSTA) on a number of projects that have helped each organization advance its goals in the education sector of Ontario. Beginning with work on the accessibility front, OSTA and OUSA (along with the College Student Alliance), came together to release Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Equal Access to Higher Education. Breaking Barriers took months of coordination and and work between the organizations in order to produce the 50+ page document that represented all the principles, concerns, and recommendations of all students in Ontario. Together, the document represented over 2.6 million students at the primary, secondary, college, and university level, or 1 in every 6 Ontarians. The document was widely accepted and praised as a well-researched and well-collaborated strategy that if implemented, could create real change towards improving the accessibility of higher education for all.

One of the main purposes of the collaboration between OSTA and OUSA is the need to improve access to higher education. While OUSA has worked tirelessly to raise awareness of the need to improve access, OSTA has the membership and the tools to speak directly to those who need to be reached out to in order to achieve success in improving access. As the Government of Ontario and OSTA is proud of its increasing graduation rate in high schools, the need exists to bridge the gap of having those graduates move on to post-secondary.

Recently, OUSA was invited to speak at OSTA’s annual transition conference in Toronto, where we were asked to speak to students on getting involved in their post-secondary institutions, what makes a good student leader, student advocacy, and life in post-secondary institutions in general. I was personally amazed at the enthusiasm and veracity of the delegates who were more than engaged and interested in all aspects of post-secondary student government life, advocacy tools, how to get involved, and of course, getting involved in OUSA. Interestingly enough, OUSA has had numerous OSTA alumni in its fold, with current summer intern Kristen Holman as a former trustee, and also former President Dan Moulton.

As secondary and post-secondary advocacy organizations work closer together in the future, it can only have a positive effect on the student movement, and especially on improving the accessibility of higher education in Ontario.

-Alvin Tedjo
Director of Communications

Ontario PC Party Leader Tim Hudak

On Sunday, the Ontario PC Party unveiled its platform for the 2011 provincial election. Leader Tim Hudak released changebook, the Party’s vision for the future of the province.

Students were heartened that post-secondary education was a component of this vision, and the Party announced some specific commitments of interest to university students:

• Raising the threshold on student financial assistance to make it more accessible for middle-class families;
• The creation of up to 60,000 new spaces at Ontario universities and colleges;
• Having institutions compete for enrolment growth and find new ways to ensure access, affordability and excellence;
• Greater coordination and cooperation between universities and colleges, specifically through new credit transfer pathways;
• Cancelling the Ontario Trillium Scholarship program for international PhD students, and redirecting the funds to domestic student assistance.

The continued commitment to growth in the post-secondary sector and to improving student mobility between institutions is wholly welcomed by students. Additionally, raising assistance thresholds will open up OSAP to more students and increase aid for all students currently receiving assistance. This is good news for students who are facing rising costs and an uncertain summer labour market.

Moving forward to the Ontario election on October 6th, students are looking forward to a vigorous and thoughtful debate between all of the parties on post-secondary education. OUSA will be working hard leading up to the vote to ensure that all students have access to information both on how to vote and on what the parties are running on. Students are happy to receive the Ontario PC Party’s initial contribution to this critical provincial conversation.

-Sean Madden
OUSA President

OUSA VP Finance

My name is Natalie Cockburn and I am the newly elected Vice President Finance of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. As the Vice President Finance I will work alongside my co-executive Sean Madden (President) and Vice President Administration (Patrick Searle) to ensure that OUSA provides educated and practical solutions related to post-secondary education in Ontario. In the finance portfolio specifically I will ultimately work to ensure that students’ money is being spent wisely! This can be achieved by strong management and smart investment. Specifically I will oversee the budgeting and auditing processes as well as the policies and operations related to finance.

In addition to my duties with OUSA, I am the Vice President Education for the Federation of Students at the University of Waterloo, where the interest in an affordable and quality post-secondary education system is contagious!

Our executive term is off to a quick start, as campaign season is upon us once again! Several provincial parties unveiled their respective priorities over the past week. We are encouraged by the early interest in education, and hope that it will remain relevant throughout the entire election.

I’d like to take a few minutes today to comment on the Green Party of Ontario’s plans for education in Ontario. Their platform released last week had two key areas of focus for education. First, the party will look to place a freeze on tuition from 2012-13, offsetting the cost of doing so through the reallocation of funds spent on tuition and post-secondary tax credits. They’ve also committed to indexing fees to inflation in the years afterward. Secondly, they will look to place a focus on youth employment, primarily through growth in apprenticeships, co-operative education programs, and training and certification programs in job growth areas.

Tuition and youth employment are both key priorities for students, and it was great to see these key elements addressed in the Green Party’s plans. It is an exciting time for students as we prepare for a provincial election; we are looking forward to the opportunity to engage with all of the parties over the coming months.

-Natalie Cockburn
OUSA Vice President Finance

Hello all! My name is Sean Madden, and I am the newly elected President of OUSA for 2011-2012. It is a tremendous honor to have been elected by such a passionate and capable Steering Committee and I look forward to what we accomplish on behalf of Ontario’s students this year. And what a year it will be! A provincial election and the additions of the McMaster Association of Part-Time Students and the Trent in Oshawa Student Association both present exciting opportunities for our organization, and the addition of new staff to our Home Office provide fantastic knowledge and energy moving forward.

As for myself, I hail from Wilfrid Laurier University where I am our Union’s VP of University Affairs. I am originally from Nova Scotia, but have been inspired by my adopted province and the possibilities of its education system and wish to serve it to the best of my abilities.

The business of representing students has already begun, and it was my pleasure to attend the Council of Ontario Universities’ Innovative Ideas Forum yesterday. A diverse and interesting selection of speakers from both the public and private realms discussed efficiencies at Ontario universities, as well as in the broader public sector. Their description of programs and priorities being developed in the sector was inspiring. Exploring innovative practices and creating efficiencies is an absolute must in order for our system to grow while keeping fair costs and quality a priority. The presenters at this forum brought forth programs that are all aimed towards creating those efficiencies, but ranging in focus from environmental and energy conscious buildings to classroom utilization to best practices in sharing resources or conducting lean operations. That our post-secondary institutions are considering these issues should inspire our own associations to think of efficiencies at home and in our relationships, and encourage the students we represent to identify for our universities their priorities in these areas. A common theme in yesterday’s presentation was the importance of grassroots contributions in these practices, and I hope that all stakeholders in the sector appreciate the place of cooperation in creating efficiency.

On behalf of OUSA, I wish to thank Bonnie Patterson, Sharon Berman and all of the staff at COU for inviting us to an informative and well executed forum. I also want to extend hearty congratulations to the presenters; I appreciate the time and energy devoted to your projects, and the things discussed today will inform my own thinking in the future. Finally, I want to thank the guests at yesterday’s forum as well. The time we all give, and the discussions occurring around the tables, are the incubators for future innovations.

-Sean Madden
OUSA President

Saving for a child’s education is the most important savings goal of Canadian parents according to a 2008 poll. In fact, over 73 per cent of Ontario children under 18 have parents who have saved for future post-secondary studies, up from less than half just a decade ago. Amid a changing economy and rising costs for post-secondary education, this is good news.

The most common savings vehicle is the Registered Education Savings Plan (RESPs). Introduced in 1972, RESPs allow for savings to accumulate tax free, and the federal government has since introduced non-repayable incentives to encourage their use. In large part, the program has been a success.

According to Statistics Canada, close to half (47%) of Canadian children had savings held in RESPs in 2008. This is a significant increase from past results of 18% in 1999 and 29% in 2002. The proportion of children with RESP savings was higher in Ontario (51%) and increases in younger age cohorts. The Canadian University Survey Consortium’s triennial survey of first-year students shows the proportion of students using RESPs to finance their education is on the rise. Most telling of all, the total assets held in RESPs has increased from $4 billion in 1998 to $26 billion in 2009.

Despite their rising popularity though, RESPs continue to be disproportionally used by families that are more educated and have higher incomes. The table below shows the proportion of children under 18 with post-secondary savings and those with an RESP from Statistics Canada’s 2008 Access and Support to Education and Training Survey. Family income and parental education continue to dramatically impact the likelihood of having an RESP – high-income families are two-and-a-half times more likely to make use of them than their low-income counterparts.

In some ways, it is inevitable that a savings vehicle will be accessed less frequently by those with less income available to be saved. Another Statistics Canada study from just last week confirms that many low-income families are struggling to save for both retirement and post-secondary education – the proportion saving for both jumps from 21 per cent in the lowest-income families to 78 per cent in the highest-income families.

However, the Canada Education Savings Grants (CESGs) and Canada Learning Bonds (CLBs) were both designed to increase participation and saving among lower-income families, but have yet to have the desired effect. The CLB in particular has failed to reach its potential. It initially provides $500 and $100 annually thereafter to low-income children (family income below $38,832) regardless of whether parents contribute, but only 19% of eligible children received the CLB in 2009. Similar matching programs exist in several other provinces – an idea worth considering here in Ontario.

RESPs have certainly received a lot of attention lately, particularly with the Liberal Party of Canada’s promise in the last election to use them as a vehicle to deliver more student aid. But before provincial or federal governments consider putting more resources into such a program, we should be sure that it will have the kind of impact we hope for. Considering the critical importance of equal access to post-secondary education, it is worth considering why the benefits of RESPs continue to be accessed unequally and what steps could be taken to improve the situation.

Lack of income certainly has something to do with it, but information plays a key role as well. In March 2008, EKOS Research Associates Inc. conducted a survey of low-income families. They found that while 83% of respondents had heard of an RESP, only 54% were able to define it. Only one-third of respondents had heard of CESGs, and only one in twelve correctly understood how the grants operate. Lack of awareness was lowest for the CLB, where only 1 in 10 had heard of the CLB, and 59% of those who had could not provide any further details. A lack of communication on the RESP process and operations has been cited as a key hurdle in improving participation.

A common response to such findings is to make registration for the CLB, or even an RESP, automatic. The idea certainly has merit, but it has both logistical and privacy implications that would need to be tackled by the federal government and the many financial institutions that offer RESPs. In the mean time, if the Government of Ontario wanted to encourage saving for post-secondary education, there are several opportunities to encourage families to sign-up that are under provincial control. The most obvious possibility is to have families register for an RESP for their child when they apply for a birth certificate. Other opportunities exist as well, such as when a child is first registered to attend school in Ontario or when a parent first reports a child on their tax return. By placing RESP registration and information alongside opportunities where the Province has direct contact with parents, it may create an atmosphere that these saving vehicles are an expectation, not a luxury.

While there may be some logistical barriers to work through, it’s a simple idea that would cost the Province next to nothing, and that could have a large impact on participation in the program. For a government that has prioritized access to education, encouraging parents to give every child a head start seems like too good an opportunity to pass up.

-Sam Andrey
Executive Director

Last Thursday and Friday, Sam Andrey and I had the opportunity to attend the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario’s conference on measuring the value of a postsecondary education. Over the course of two days, academics, administrators and others exploring the field of quality measurement gave presentations on how and why the Ontario post-secondary education sector should work to ensure that institutions are producing tangible learning outcomes for students. Additionally, questions were asked of what outcomes should or shouldn’t be and what frameworks have been adopted internationally in order to assess these outcomes.

The conference was an excellent opportunity to bring together a wide variety of stakeholders in educational quality and will hopefully be the starting point to an increasingly necessary province-wide discussion on the subject. With student contributions to university operating costs at an all-time high, ensuring that the post-secondary experience is valuable and worthwhile is a key priority of students.

After some opening remarks, Jillian Kinzie from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and Roger Benjamin of the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) got the day started with a broad discussion on the approaches to quality measurement currently used by institutions, how they have been implemented and what has yet to be measured. One important distinction that was raised in this session was between the market-driven and academically-driven perspectives of accountability.

Market-driven approaches emphasize the student as a customer of institutions, who deserve certain learning outcomes by virtue of investing in the system. This approach tends to posit quality measurement as a means to ensure accountability to the student-customer. Academic approaches emphasize the personal and societal benefits of educational quality, driving the measurement discussion to a quality-improvement objective. Though students are much more than simply customers in education, increasing reliance on tuition and ancillary fees mean that the importance of an accountability dialogue cannot be understated.

Another interesting question raised during the conference pertained to the role of the professoriate in facilitating certain learning outcomes. Repeatedly throughout the conference, presenters emphasized that quality assurance processes must be embraced not just on the institution-wide level but also the program level by faculty members. Students have repeatedly confirmed the importance of faculty buy-in to quality-assurance strategies. A survey conducted of undergraduate students in 2009 confirmed that faculty availability and teaching ability were highly correlated with student satisfaction with university education, indicating that the abilities and practices of faculty members play a key role in quality assurance.

One question that gained some attention, but could have used more discussion was the role of government in quality assurance. Many of the strategies proposed by the presenters adopted a “bottom-up” grassroots approach to quality improvement. While institutional and faculty leadership is required in quality improvement, the nature of Ontario’s system affords governments the right and responsibility to ensure that students’ and taxpayers’ investments in higher education is yielding the best possible student learning outcomes. A number of people at the conference spoke of the importance of ‘carrots’ and ‘sticks’ in moving the system toward improvement. With the Ontario government renegotiating its accountability agreements with institutions next year, it will be interesting to see if these discussions result in the agreements playing a larger role in the strategic planning of the government and institutions.

What will be most interesting moving forward from this conference is how the sector plans to implement and re-vamp quality improvement strategies. OUSA would like to thank HEQCO and Harvey Weingarten for inviting us to a stimulating and abundantly necessary conversation on an issue of great importance to students.

-Chris Martin
OUSA Director of Research