You want to go to university in the fall. The grades are there and you have the motivation and potential to achieve great things. What can go wrong?
Well, there is the not-so-minor issue of accessing the funding. If you are aboriginal, there is, in theory, educational funding available for post secondary education.
In theory.
In practice, access to funding is subject to multiple variables, few of which have anything to do with the student’s qualifications. Specifically, the present Post-Secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) is administered through various levels of bureaucracy, both in the local communities and the federal government, which can make present day funding very iffy. As pointed out by Calvin Helin and Dave Snow in their report “Free To Learn” :
“Each year, Canadian taxpayers pay $314 million toward the PSSSP. This money does not go directly to Registered Indian students, but is transferred from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) to individual Indian bands, which in turn distribute the money to students themselves”
Calvin Helin and Dave Snow, Free to Learn: Giving Aboriginal Youth Control Over Their Post-Secondary Education, True North, pp 4-26 March 2010
http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/FreeToLearn.pdf
The major caveat lies in the redistribution of funding by bands. Students living outside the communities or not in close favourable contact with the chief and council may not have equal access to the funding. Some of community’s valuable assets, it’s brightest minds could be underdeveloped or lost entirely by imbalances in the system.
Add to that the new wrinkle that under the Harper government the existing program of PSSSP may not be made available past 2013.
There has to be a better way. In response to this Helin and Snow have proposed a new system that would guarantee an objective means for all qualified. This would be achieved through the establishment Aboriginal Post-Secondary Savings Account (APSSA) opened at birth for every Registered Indian, regardless of whether they live on or off-reserve.
Call it social security for those who want to achieve advanced degrees. While the concept is in its nascent stage of development, and the structure and application must be defined, it suggests a significant improvement in administration of educational funding. Like existing Registered Educational Savings Plans (RESP), funds ($25,000 suggested) are placed in interest-earning trust at the birth of each child, in their name, and subject to it being used for post secondary education.
The child will have access to the funds upon entering a post-secondary school, with a 10 year window for the student to decide if and where he wishes to attend. The access is direct for each student. This streamlines the process, keeps it at arms length from politics, and advances the community, not the bureaucracies that are presently clogging the systems.
However not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea while not actually indicating why they are reluctant to entertain the concept. In an interview on CBC’s “The Current” Shawn Atleo, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and Thomas Benjoe, a student at the First Nations University in Regina were both asked about it. Unfortunately in their answers, they both demonstrated the worst in political double-speak and issue avoidance; bobbing and weaving to keep from addressing the issue: much to the consternation of the host, Anna Maria Tremonti.
SHAWN ATLEO (National Chief, Assembly of First Nations): Good morning.
TREMONTI: Why don’t you like this idea?
ATLEO: Well, actually what I really like is the, is the attention that it continues to bring to the need for post-secondary education success. And as Calvin points out, the fact that we have a greying mainstream population and over 50 percent of the First Nations population are under the age of 25, and those are really important factors.
TREMONTI: So, why don’t you like it?
ATLEO: Well, I didn’t say that I didn’t like it. I think that there are challenges with the, the whole concept or the whole idea of how post-secondary has been managed. And I think that that’s where there’s a shared, that’s where there’s a shared notion. Since 2004 the auditor general said in a report that there is no higher priority than aboriginal post-secondary education. But in fact, the points that were made in that report was that the administration that needs to be improved is with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. And so, if there are problems with how this program is administered in Ottawa, certainly there’s going to be challenges with how it’s administered overall. It has been very, very successful as a program overall. …
The Current, March 17, 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2010/201003/20100317.htmlThe Current Transcript http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/CalvinHelinCBC_TheCurrent100317.pdf
Benjoe’s responsiveness was even more questionable:
BENJOE: Well, I guess the, the first problem that I have with this, this proposal is that the only incentive upon graduation is 25,000 dollars, which in fact for our time right now is not going to cover a lot of our tuition and the living costs that we have to deal with from year to year.
TREMONTI: What do you get right now? Do you get that much?
BENJOE: Typically we get our tuition and our books paid for.
TREMONTI: So, it’s not 25,000, is it?
BENJOE: For a year?
TREMONTI: Over the course, is it 25,000 over the course of, of an undergraduate degree at university or is it less?
BENJOE: I think that’s what they, this 25,000 dollars is what they were proposing is to, is over the course of four years for a degree.
TREMONTI: Right. And what I’m asking is what do First Nations students get now?
BENJOE: Typically we get our tuition covered, which is, for a full course load is about 6,000 dollars a year.
TREMONTI: Over how many years? Four?
BENJOE: Over four years.
TREMONTI: Okay. So that’s 24,000.
BENJOE: That’s 24,000 right there.
TREMONTI: Yeah.
BENJOE: That’s not even including the, the living incentives or the living allowance or anything like that.
TREMONTI: So you are, are you opposed to the principle or the actual amount?
BENJOE: I’m, I’m opposed to both actually.
TREMONTI: Why?
BENJOE: For me my, my post-secondary career has been, has been really successful dealing with my band and their post-secondary program that they have set up. I have a post-secondary counsellor that has helped me throughout my entire career here. And she went above and beyond what was expected of her to, to help with our, not only paying our tuition and getting those kinds of costs covered for us, but she’s helped us with scholarships and being a part of the community in many other ways because…
TREMONTI: What about those communities where they don’t go above and beyond though? Who helps them?
BENJOE: I can’t really speak too much about them. I don’t know their situation. …
The Current, March 17, 2010 http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2010/201003/20100317.htmlThe Current Transcript http://www.macdonaldlaurier.ca/files/pdf/CalvinHelinCBC_TheCurrent100317.pdf
In the end this and many similar issues need to be addressed with fresh minds, ideas, and approaches. The existing power structures are clinging to old ways in order to preserve crumbling infrastructures. There are those on councils that dread any suggestion that might weaken their discretionary control of power and money. However changes are coming and what is needed are true leaders, not merely more politicians and bureaucrats. Self-government is heavily dependent on higher education. Guaranteeing unhindered and equitable success to all students translates into strong communities.
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