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<\/a><\/p>\nWhen it comes to campaigning, the online environment isn\u2019t as organic, he says, but the main issues facing students for this election remain the same, for the most part. Still, he acknowledges that it has been \u201ca heavy year,\u201d one that has exacerbated many of the issues facing students.<\/p>\n
\u201cAffordability [of Victoria] is a huge problem,\u201d he says. \u201cThe price of post-secondary is a huge problem,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
As far as how online schooling influences those things, solutions are going to have to be made on the fly, he says, once staff and students return to campus in September, and these are the sorts of decisions that the election winners can have a say in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope we\u2019re able to return to campus in the fall,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope that we\u2019re able to curve back to a point where it\u2019s safe for students to return. In the instance where we\u2019re going back and we\u2019re looking at, maybe, a mixed-education approach, I think there are going to be accessibility issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
If there are students that are unvaccinated and therefore uncomfortable returning, he says, or maybe students that don\u2019t feel fully confident in how campus services and classes are being run, it\u2019s going to be particularly important for the CCSS to make sure students are heard, says Cunningham. The same goes for affordability: government assistance with evictions and other financial measures are not enough to alleviate the \u201chuge problem\u201d of affordability in Victoria for students, he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cStudents are vulnerable. A lot of young adults enter [rental] contracts that are predatory,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the province\u2019s job; it\u2019s a municipal issue as well, and that\u2019s why the CCSS\u2026 works for housing that\u2019s designed for people of low income. There\u2019s not a good housing support system, I feel, in Victoria, for low income, and a lot of students fall into that bracket.\u201d<\/p>\n