Post-secondary students in the Kelowna area held a couple of gatherings to protest high tuition rates on Thursday.

The events, held at UBCO and at Okanagan College, were part of a provincial protest organized to put the spotlight on rising tuition rates.

“We want to increase accessibility to all students because education is a right,” said student Spencer Robins, UBC Students Union Okanagan external coordinator.

“Government should be providing grants, not loans.

“We’re trying to spread the message that there are a lot of students that are facing high debt loads across Canada.”

UBCO students held a couple of different rallies at the Kelowna campus, dropping a banner as well as several pumpkins to symbolize what they say should be falling debt loads.

“It was a fun way to create a dialogue about rising fees here on campus,” said Carolyn Cody, UBCSUO internal coordinator.

Cody added that tuition fees at UBC Okanagan have tripled since 2001

“Students from middle and lower income backgrounds are increasingly being forced out of the post secondary education system,” she said.

Students at Okanagan College also launched a campaign, called Drop Fees, hoping to highlight what they call a current epidemic of student debt.

Students are calling on the provincial government to

• reduce tuition fees,

• reduce textbook fees,

• reduce parking fees,

• reduce ancillary fees.

“No generation of students in B.C. has been forced this deep into debt just to get a basic diploma or degree,” said Philippe Bourbeau, Okanagan College student’s union chairperson.

“For tens of thousands of students in B.C. education has become a debt sentence.”

kparnell@kelownacapnews.com