How student debt is beneficial to voter turnout

The increase in post-secondary enrollment has inevitably come with the ugly cost of rising student debt. The financial burden continues to grow thanks to sky-high textbook prices and ever-increasing tuition costs. In fact, it was only a year ago that alarming signs about this looming crisis in North America came to light. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, student debt in the United States is greater than credit card or auto loan debt ($1.16 trillion in student loan debt vs. $700 billion in credit card debt in late 2014). This is also the case in Canada—from 1990 to 2014, the average cost of tuition has increased by 155% (adjusted for inflation) and 180% in the province of Ontario alone. According to the Canadian Federation of Students, “[the] aggregate of loans disbursed by the Canada Student Loans Program, less the aggregate of loan repayments received, is resulting in student debt increasing by $1 million per day.”

About a month ago, Canadians went to the polls with several issues. Common concerns such as democratic reform, foreign policy, transparency, and a robust economy were at the forefront of voters’ minds. However, this year, voters were also apprehensive about the issue of student debt. The political parties involved in the federal election had pretty idealistic solutions when discussing student debt: The Conservatives promised that a series of economic enhancements “could mean as much as $2,200 more per student or roughly a half year’s tuition costs in additional government support, assuming a reasonable rate of return.” The NDP stated that they would “phase out interest on all federal student loans. Over the next seven years, interest on federal student loans will be eliminated.” They also promised that the Canada Student Grants program would receive “additional funding of over $250 million, ramped up over four years…with an emphasis on helping low income and indigenous students, as well as students living with disabilities”. The Green Party boldly promised that, “Through consultation and collaboration with provincial governments and universities and colleges, by 2020 we will abolish tuition fees for post-secondary education and skills training for Canadians, guaranteeing that income is never a barrier for qualified students”. For current students, they pledge to “eliminate any existing or future student federal debt above $10,000.” While these proposals seem ideal, the pressing question still remains: what will the newly elected Liberal Party do to tackle this issue?

The Liberal Party’s mandate for post-secondary students is to invest 40 million dollars each year to help employers create more co-op placements for students in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and business programs. They also plan to increase the maximum Canada Student Grant for low-income students to $3,000 per year for full-time students, and to $1,800 per year for part-time students. Lastly, they have assured us that they will make sure that no graduate with student loans will be required to pay back anything until they are earning an income of at least $25,000 per year. With a new federal government in office with a majority mandate, how accountable can Canadians expect the Liberals to be?

Accountability has always been the primary concern of the public when it comes to their relationship with the federal government. We actually have a great tool that provides an in-depth look at our Prime Minister’s promises: the Trudeau-meter. It provides a record of policies from his platform that are in progress, have been maintained, or have been discarded. It’s a simple tracker that is supposed to measure the progress of each Liberal promise and policy. Other tools that can be used are the mandate letters of the various ministers in Trudeau’s cabinet. Since these have been made public, we now have a glimpse into the “marching orders” of each of the ministries. Using these to ensure transparency, Canadians can now hold the hope of picturing what their federal government has planned, and how much this vision deviates from the original mandate.

This election has brought out an interesting trend: the rise of the student vote. The pressures of rising debt and the introduction of a new electoral system has pushed the 18-24 demographic to becoming more politically active, thus shaping the outcomes of future elections. While the latest numbers are not released yet, Elections Canada reported a huge success with advance voting on several university campuses nationwide.

The one benefit that seems to come with rising student debt is the corresponding rise of youth participation in the polls. While a post- secondary education may weigh heavily on the wallets of students, it also brings about interest in the platforms of political parties, and how they plan to serve an increasingly growing number of students.

Featured image courtesy of Tess King