The British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS) recently launched a new campaign, Cuts Suck. Fix Education. Advocating for the return of provincial government funding, the campaign aims to address a slow financial cut to the BC post-secondary education system that has lasted over the past 20 years.
“Students shouldn’t have to delay their graduation because their college or university is experiencing budget cuts,” says BCFS chairperson Debanhi Herrera Lira, “but that’s exactly what we’re seeing all across the province. Courses, programs, services are being cut. Faculty is being laid off, which is causing really long waitlists and really expensive tuition.”
Lira says that courses are not as available as they used to be. Students will sometimes have to delay their graduation by semesters or even years because the classes they require are not as readily available to them. She adds that some students have had to transfer to different institutions because the courses they need are being cut.
“All of this is happening across the province, and the root cause is lack of funding from the provincial government,” says Lira.
Twenty years ago, 68 percent of post-secondary funding came from government; currently, government funding sits at 40 percent. Lira says that a part of the funding issue comes from institutions’ heavy reliance on international student fees to pay for education since government divestment.
“We are asking community members, students, and faculty to join us to call on the government to reinvest in post-secondary education by returning investment levels to 75 percent of operating budgets,” says Lira.
Lira says that the cuts impact all students, international and domestic.
“This is affecting domestic students because their tuition is on the line,” she says. “There’s a possibility that because of the lack of funding, the government could revisit its policy on domestic student fees. There is a two-percent cap on tuition increases for domestic students, and if the government decides to revisit that, it could be a danger.”
Across the province, there are shortages of qualified professionals to fill jobs that people rely on. Nurses, for example, remain in high demand and are anticipated to be in further demand as much of BC’s population ages. Despite this need, the provincial government hasn’t invested funding to ensure future positions will be filled to demand, says Lira.
“What we’re seeing is that this issue is really going to affect our communities. We keep hearing from all levels of government that we want more houses built, we want more doctors, we want more teachers, we want people to fill the job market to have a stronger economy and a stronger British Columbia but we’re not seeing them invest in our education. We’re not seeing them prioritize post-secondary education and its benefits on local economies.”
Lira points to Okanagan College cutting its nursing program in 2023 as an example of the government sending mixed messages.
“How can the government say more nurses are wanted,” she says, “if they’re not prioritizing keeping programs like that open?”
Lira says that colleges and universities are vital to their local communities, especially in northern and rural areas.
“Colleges and universities can often be economic anchors for their communities,” she says. “Prioritizing education is prioritizing all British Columbia communities.”
Lira says that a lack of funding for education will have a downstream effect on BC communities.
“Lack of funding to the post-secondary sector is going to create longer queue lines for hospitals and for doctors,” she says. “It’s going to create a lack of trades workers to build the houses we need, especially during a housing crisis.”
The BCFS’ website offers more detailed information about these cuts.
“We have a cut tracker, which we are using to track the different cuts, layoffs and suspensions to different courses and programs across the province, so people can be informed.”
The website has an email tool on its front page with a prefilled email highlighting the issues that the post-secondary system is facing. Students can enter their information and the email will be sent to the minister of education, the premier, and their local MLA.
“We can flood their inboxes with voices of students and members calling on the government to reinvest in our education,” says Lira. “It’s a great way to get involved.”
Lira says that the BCFS—which all Camosun students are paying members of—supports affordable and accessible education for everyone and that the current campaign reflects this advocacy. (See cutssuck.ca for more information on the campaign.)
“This campaign is really resonating with students, faculty, and the communities we talk to every day,” she says. “We need our education to be prioritized and it’s time for us to be heard.”