New CASA report correlates accessibility, employment

According to a report released by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, after reaching record highs over the past summer, student unemployment rates are beginning to have an impact on the ability of students to access higher education.

The report assembles over 20,000 survey responses from full-time undergraduate students across the country, and noted that almost one third of students surveyed were only able to find part-time employment during the summer months to support their education. Currently, Canada student loan assessments are ill-equipped to deal with complications like varying summer work commitments, explained Council of Alberta University Students Chair Beverly Eastham.

"When you enter into your Canada student loan, it doesn't actually matter how much you've been able to save throughout the summer months. It's automatically assumed you've saved $2,336," Eastham said, referring to the student loan assessment procedure.

The report also noted that funding problems and low income were strongly associated with the likelihood to either reduce course-load or drop out of studies entirely. Eastham was quick to point out, however, that even dealing with potentially short-term problems like fluctuations in employment could be compensated for by adjustments to the students loans assessment procedure.

Currently, there are several ways the loan assessment procedure works against students, she continued. For example, at the level of federal loans, students owning vehicles worth more than $5,000 count toward a reassessment and likely reduction of the loan — a policy not practiced in Alberta's loan system.
Likewise, students are currently barred from earning more than $50 a week while in school without a negative reassessment on his or her loan.

"It's all about basically how much you have and what you need and what are you assessed as needing. The whole process is pretty complex," she said.

But according to Eastham, the complexities should be easier for students to sort out, and the timeline on which student loans are processed leaves no excuse to not adapt the assessment system. The report suggests increasing allowable income from $50 to $100 could help ease the financial burden on students, but in the end, it will be up to government to lift restrictions and give students some breathing room.

"The actual process of when a student submits their form to when they receive their loan — it's pretty timely, and the changes that we're asking for could be made quite quickly," she said. "It's not an administratively complicated thing. It would just require a little political will to open up the possibilities for students."