A rally for students of the University of Saskatchewan was held Thursday afternoon with the hope of making post secondary schooling more affordable for all students.
Students and speakers gathered in front of the school’s administration building to get their voices heard. The University of Saskatchewan’s Student Union was also on hand, stating they plan to get their of points to be focused on to the provincial government heading towards a new budget and election in November.
USSU President Regan Ratt-Misponas says students are facing hardships when it comes to the affordability of schooling. Saying that he’s heard of students working 2 to 3 jobs just to keep up with tuition, bills and their day to day studies. Ratt-Misponas and other guest speakers spoke in front of a group of concerned students at the rally, who are looking to have their voices heard when it comes to the upcoming Saskatchewan budget. The USSU will be sending six calls of action for the Government of Saskatchewan to consider coming up in March, that will relate to their vision and their goal to lobby for accessible and affordable post-secondary education.
One of the topics brought up was the reasonable and predictable tuition which Ratt-Misponas explains would essentially be to ensure students have a little more foresight of what they are paying before hand. “Say, a first year student that is coming back for their second year, that they might be able to know if they are going to be able to afford being able to come to school before changes are made.”
The USSU is looking for an increase to unrestricted institutional funding, a reasonable and predictable tuition policy, subsidy for open educational resources from the Saskatchewan advantage scholarship, more scholarships, grants, and bursaries for international students, the elimination of interest on student loans and a tuition waiver for students in foster Care.
