The RSU claims that the upcoming Liberal tuition grants are only for general arts and science, but all full-time Ryerson students can apply
The Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) has mistakenly said the new Liberal tuition grants will only be offered to general arts and general science students.
Come January 2012, the Liberals will offer a $1,600 grant to full-time university undergraduates and $750 to full-time college students with a combined parental income of less than $160,000.
“We have to start doing something to make it more affordable,” said Glen Murray, Toronto MPP and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities.
Tony Koutoulas, a first-year arts and contemporary studies student, is happy with the Liberals’ new educational plan.
“I feel that it gives people that have a low income more of a chance to attend university,” he said.
According to the Liberal election platform, the grants will not yet be available for students in professional programs as well as financially independent students or part-time students.
The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA) website clarified that this means students in second-entry professional programs such as medicine, law, dentistry, optometry, pharmacy and veterinary medicine will not be eligible for the grant.
First-entry professional programs like engineering, commerce or architecture will be included.
Though the RSU said the grants were for general arts and science, they actually will be applicable for all students at Ryerson who are dependent on their parents, are in the low income range and go to school full-time.
“I think that at the end of the day it’s not going to be as effective as we need it to be if it’s just this grant,” said Melissa Palermo, RSU’s vice-president education said.
Palermo said that the Liberals still hadn’t clarified what a professional program was, yet the RSU told students that if they were in non-general programs, like engineering, they were not applicable.
“We would prefer if they took the money they were going to put towards the grant and give us a true tuition fee reduction,” Palermo said.
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