Selkirk students raise their grave concerns
Students placed gravestone markers on the front lawn of Selkirk College on Nov. 5 with the amount they are in debt because of post-secondary education.
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Updated: November 06, 2009 4:08 PM
Students from all campuses of Selkirk College in Castlegar and Nelson filled out tombstones for the SCSU Debt Graveyard. Students wrote their debt amounts or the sacrifices they have done in order to obtain a post-secondary education.
The SCSU collected 101 tombstones. From the collected ones, 58 had amounts of debt that added to $1,214,373. That is an average of $20,582.60 per student.
“We talked to a lot of students that visited the graveyard and I think this has been a great eye opener for our members and the college’s community in general,” said Zachary Crispin, external director of the Selkirk College Students’ Union. “It is unacceptable that students have to take on massive amounts of debt in order to become functional, working, members of society.”
This event is being held as part of the Canadian Federation of Students’ campaign “Education Shouldn’t be a Debt Sentence” to reduce student debt, in conjunction with students across the province. The campaign will highlight BC's record-high student debt and mobilize students to pressure the BC government to:
- reduce tuition fees to 2001 levels;
- restore per-student funding for universities and colleges;
- re-establish a provincial student grants program; and
- eliminate interest on BC student loans.
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