{"id":27317,"date":"2025-10-15T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T16:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27317"},"modified":"2025-10-17T11:11:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T18:11:42","slug":"british-columbia-federation-of-students-launches-new-campaign-in-support-of-post-secondary-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/10\/15\/british-columbia-federation-of-students-launches-new-campaign-in-support-of-post-secondary-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"British Columbia Federation of Students launches new campaign in support of post-secondary funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents shouldn\u2019t have to delay their graduation because their college or university is experiencing budget cuts,\u201d says BCFS chairperson Debanhi Herrera Lira, \u201cbut that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Camosun student showing their support for the new BCFS campaign (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAll of this is happening across the province, and the root cause is lack of funding from the provincial government,\u201d says Lira.<\/p>\n

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\u2019 heavy reliance on international student fees to pay for education since government divestment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d says Lira.<\/p>\n

Lira says that the cuts impact all students, international and domestic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is affecting domestic students because their tuition is on the line,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s population ages. Despite this need, the provincial government hasn\u2019t invested funding to ensure future positions will be filled to demand, says Lira.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re 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\u2019re not seeing them invest in our education. We\u2019re not seeing them prioritize post-secondary education and its benefits on local economies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lira points to Okanagan College cutting its nursing program in 2023 as an example of the government sending mixed messages.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can the government say more nurses are wanted,\u201d she says, \u201cif they\u2019re not prioritizing keeping programs like that open?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lira says that colleges and universities are vital to their local communities, especially in northern and rural areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cColleges and universities can often be economic anchors for their communities,\u201d she says. \u201cPrioritizing education is prioritizing all British Columbia communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lira says that a lack of funding for education will have a downstream effect on BC communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cLack of funding to the post-secondary sector is going to create longer queue lines for hospitals and for doctors,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to create a lack of trades workers to build the houses we need, especially during a housing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCFS\u2019 website offers more detailed information about these cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can flood their inboxes with voices of students and members calling on the government to reinvest in our education,\u201d says Lira. \u201cIt\u2019s a great way to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lira says that the BCFS\u2014which all Camosun students are paying members of\u2014supports affordable and accessible education for everyone and that the current campaign reflects this advocacy. (See cutssuck.ca for more information on the campaign.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis campaign is really resonating with students, faculty, and the communities we talk to every day,\u201d she says. \u201cWe need our education to be prioritized and it\u2019s time for us to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. \u201cStudents shouldn\u2019t have to delay their graduation because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27369,"comment_status":"closed","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":[13,340],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-october-15-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317","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=27317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27319,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27317\/revisions\/27319"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}