OSPE - COVID-19 Economic Recovery Recommendations - Federal Government - 8

OSPE recognizes that the federal government has taken significant steps to support students and recent graduates during this crisis.
Specifically, through changes to the Canada Student Loans program, the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), and the Canada
Student Service Grant (CSSG), as well as supports to help postdoctoral and international students.
However, the current structure of the student loans program coupled with escalating tuition costs have placed engineering students in a
precarious situation. As a result, engineering students often seek loans from banks and credit unions to pay higher tuition fees and are
further disadvantaged because (i) commercial bank/credit union student loans typically carry higher interest rates than federal/provincial
student loans and (ii) interest paid on student loans provided by banks and credit unions are not eligible for tax deduction purposes.
Government support programs for students and new graduates must recognize that:
	
* Engineering programs are far more expensive than arts programs so current financial support programs, are effectively less sup		
	
portive for engineering students than arts students/other programs.
	
* Engineering sources of income are being significantly impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
	
* Historical pre-COVID-19 earnings tests from parents are effectively irrelevant to determining whether a student can pay
	
forthcoming engineering tuitions.
	
* Parental earnings may not be available to support students going forward.
	
* The value of traditional tax incentives available to students and parents (RESP, Textbook tax credit, tuition credits etc.) have
	
either been cancelled or significantly atrophied as a percentage of real student educational and living costs.
Without effectively addressing this we are compromising access to engineering programs and ultimately constraining the future
engineering talent pool, and the industry's future ability to innovate in support of Canada's economy.
To address this, the federal government should:
	
a) Create accessible and predictable funding opportunities for companies that are looking to hire interns, recent engineering
	
graduates and students.
	
b) Evaluate and restructure the Canada Student Loans Program (CSLP) and other educational government support programs to 		
	
account for the impact of COVID-19 on historical income data.
	
c) Provide additional income support to students and their parents in the form of tax credits through a system that bases
	
financial supports on the cost of their educational program (i.e. implementing transferrable tax credits that are capped based on 		
	
a percentage of tuition paid rather than a dollar cap).
	
d) Review and enhance the amount of tax incentives and supports available to students and their families to account for
	
diverse family structures and dynamics (multiple children in college and university, child support payments, disabled children, 		
	
high health care, financial support for aging parents etc.)

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OSPE - COVID-19 Economic Recovery Recommendations - Federal Government

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of OSPE - COVID-19 Economic Recovery Recommendations - Federal Government
