Premier Jim Prentice has described the crafting of the government’s new budget as one of the hardest tasks he’s been involved with. The mix of spending cuts and tax increases was undoubtedly a difficult chore, but it’s too bad the Tories have sacrificed the Alberta Centennial Education Savings plan.
Ralph Klein introduced the initiative with great fanfare in 2005, providing $500 to every child who was the beneficiary of a newly opened Registered Education Savings Plan. Further, the government provided $100 contributions when the students turned eight, 11 and 14 years of age, so long as the balance in the savings fund grew by at least that amount.
The plan, which has been under review for two years, was a good way of urging parents and other relatives to get an early start in planning for their children’s post-secondary education. Parents who have been called on to help finance a daughter’s or son’s schooling know all too well that the costs are considerable. Mount Royal University, for instance, pegs the average cost of an eight-month year of study at more than $18,000, including living costs. Even students staying at home are told to budget $11,700. Encouraging families to look ahead to the cost of getting a higher education — and helping out a little using public funds — made sense and complemented the long-standing support provided by the federal government.
Advanced Education Minister Don Scott says the government’s priority now is to ensure that lower-income Albertans have a greater opportunity to get a post-secondary education, pointing out that just 17 per cent of those who used the program were families of limited means. That’s a noble goal, but cutting the $19 million annual cost of the initiative does nothing to ease access to higher education — not in the absence of a new program.
In fact, the strength of Klein’s vision was that it made the government and families partners in planning for post-secondary education. It’s difficult to see how the Tories’ vague commitment to helping low-income families get an education is going to trump the Alberta Centennial Education Savings plan — not when tuition, living costs and admission standards are already a barrier for many. If families can’t afford to pony up a minimum of $100 every few years or so, Scott’s good intentions aren’t going to amount to much.
The premier has talked a lot about getting off the so-called energy roller-coaster and saving resource revenue for future Albertans. It’s tough to square his remarks with the demise of a program that was touted as preparing young Albertans for a prosperous future.
