Students will fight CEGEP tuition fees

If the provincial Liberals act on the proposal to begin charging tuition fees at CEGEPs, they can expect student federations to put up a fight.
Xavier Lefebvre Boucher, president of student lobby group Féderation étudiante collégiale du Québec said he wants Premier Jean Charest and the Minister of Education to retract the proposal. If they don’t, he threatened, “We are going to be armed and we are going to be waiting. If they declare war on us, we are going to respond.”
Delegates of the Quebec Liberal Party approved the proposal late last month as part of a pre-budget package presented by the Minister of Finance to help balance the budget by 2013-2014. Delegates said they would introduce “modest” tuition fees. But the Canadian Federation of Students, the country’s largest student lobby group, said they won’t accept the Liberal party’s proposal in any capacity.
And Quebec students aren’t pleased at the thought of paying for CEGEP, a provincial post-secondary education institution.
“I find it ridiculous to introduce tuition fees,” said Yara Soveidi, 18, a social-science student at Collège Bois-de-Boulogne. “Especially because of the economic situation we are going through. This only proves they’re not alert to what students’ reality is.”
Concordia students who went to CEGEP said they’re happy they got through the system without paying tuition.
Biochemistry major Filipe Santos, 24, said students might have trouble focusing on school if they have to earn more money to pay tuition. “A lot of young people have to work and study at the same time,” he said. “If the government increases fees, students will have to work more and study less.”
Santos said that although he received financial aid when he was in CEGEP, it wasn’t enough, so he still had to work.
“I think our leaders should help students a lot more,” he said. “They should contribute to their success.”
Quebec has the most affordable post-secondary educational system in Canada. If the provincial government goes ahead with this proposal, it will be the first time in 42 years that students will have to pay for education at public CEGEPs.

If the provincial Liberals act on the proposal to begin charging tuition fees at CEGEPs, they can expect student federations to put up a fight.
Xavier Lefebvre Boucher, president of student lobby group Féderation étudiante collégiale du Québec said he wants Premier Jean Charest and the Minister of Education to retract the proposal. If they don’t, he threatened, “We are going to be armed and we are going to be waiting. If they declare war on us, we are going to respond.”
Delegates of the Quebec Liberal Party approved the proposal late last month as part of a pre-budget package presented by the Minister of Finance to help balance the budget by 2013-2014. Delegates said they would introduce “modest” tuition fees. But the Canadian Federation of Students, the country’s largest student lobby group, said they won’t accept the Liberal party’s proposal in any capacity.
And Quebec students aren’t pleased at the thought of paying for CEGEP, a provincial post-secondary education institution.
“I find it ridiculous to introduce tuition fees,” said Yara Soveidi, 18, a social-science student at Coll

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