{"id":19442,"date":"2020-04-28T10:14:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=19442"},"modified":"2020-04-28T10:36:12","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T17:36:12","slug":"student-organizations-push-for-more-after-9-billion-student-aid-package-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/04\/28\/student-organizations-push-for-more-after-9-billion-student-aid-package-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Student organizations push for more after $9 billion student-aid package announced"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, April 22, the federal government announced a new student-aid package amounting to $9 billion. Many student organizations, however, say this isn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

The new Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) provides $1,250 a month from May to August for students and recent graduates who are making $1,000 a month or less. Students with disabilities or dependents will be eligible for up to $1,750 a month. As well, a new Canada Student Service Grant will give up to $5,000 to student volunteers working in programs that are related to COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) external executive Fillette Umulisa says that the CCSS would like to thank the government for announcing the CESB for students who are struggling during this pandemic, but says that she doesn\u2019t see why students should receive less than people who are getting $2,000 a month through the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun College Student Society external executive Fillette Umulisa (file photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe know that it\u2019s not a lot, and the British Columbia Federation of Students [BCFS] put out a newsletter on that to the government, saying it\u2019s not fair that students are receiving much less than everybody else, and that [students] also need equal amounts. As members of the BCFS, we do agree with that statement,\u201d says Umulisa. \u201cStudents are equally hit by this pandemic both economically and socially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Umulisa says she will be asking CCSS board members to help push for a letter to local MPs \u201cto urge them to support our call to be treated fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to work tirelessly, as we have been working in the past few days, to make sure that there\u2019s services out there for students [that are] equally efficient\u2026 Not many students have dependents, but they do have somewhat of a tough life.\u201d<\/p>\n

One concern from student groups is that international students are not eligible for the student benefits in the $9-billion package. Umulisa says that the CCSS is working tirelessly for international students.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working really, really hard to edge the government to make sure that they recognize that [international students] need help as well,\u201d she says. They\u2019re not just here to boost the economy; they\u2019re also people that need help in times of hardship like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trudeau government has also committed to doubling Canada Student Grants for all eligible full-time students to up to $6,000; eligible part-time students can receive up to $3,600 in the 2020-21 academic year. The government said they will also double the Canada Student Grant for Students with Permanent Disabilities and the Canada Student Grant for Students with Dependents.<\/p>\n

The Canada Student Loans Program will also see changes in the 2020-21 academic year, with the maximum weekly amount that a student can get going from $210 to $350. The existing distinctions-based support for First Nations, Inuit, and M\u00e9tis students will receive an additional $75.2 million in the 2020-21 academic year.<\/p>\n

Also, the government has committed $291 million to federal granting councils for student researcher extensions. The government also said that it intends to enhance work opportunities for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows through the National Research Council of Canada, and that it will expand existing federal employment, skills development, and youth programming to create up to 116,000 jobs, placements, and training opportunities to assist students in finding employment and developing skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, April 22, the federal government announced a new student-aid package amounting to $9 billion. Many student organizations, however, say this isn\u2019t enough. The new Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) provides $1,250 a month from May to August for students and recent graduates who are making $1,000 a month or less. Students with disabilities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19442"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19448,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19442\/revisions\/19448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}