A recent poll has found that Canadian post-secondary students and their parents are struggling to support students’ basic financial needs.
Released on August 27, the poll, conducted by by TD Bank, found that 65 percent of students consider themselves “financially unstable,” with nearly 45 percent unable to cover necessities such as food and housing. Additionally, 94 percent of parents surveyed are providing some level of financial support to their children during their post-secondary education, while 71 percent of parents have reported financial suffering as a result of it.
Although the poll reflects significant parental support, British Columbia Federation of Students (BCFS) chairperson Jessie Niikoi says the BCFS is still hearing increased concerns from students struggling with the cost of living in BC.
“[T]here’s… a lot of students who have started asking if there’s some sort of financial support that student unions provide because they’re starting to face the pressure of increased tuition, unaffordable housing, a lot of things that are affecting them when it comes to their post-secondary education,” says Niikoi. “And we know that this is something that’s happening across BC right now, but students have that added cost of tuition to that and it’s causing a problem everywhere.”
The poll also found that one in five Canadian students are currently sourcing financial advice from social media platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) external executive Prince Solanki says he’s concerned about the potential for misinformation and would like to see the college attempt to better educate students on budgeting. Solanki also says he’s noticed more students accessing resources such as the food bank on campus. He says the CCSS has increased their available items to accommodate students’ growing needs.
“We have increased our food services. We used to have bread days, but now we were having vegetables as well… We see lots of students are even more aware of these things now, and they are coming forward to take some bread,” says Solanki. “We are trying our best to support students.”
Niikoi says that in addition to managing basic needs, the BCFS is hearing about an increasing amount of students living in sub-standard housing circumstances. She says issues have only escalated post-COVID.
“Things are unaffordable in BC, there’s increased cost in accessing food, like groceries are expensive now,” she says. “So a lot of students are also having to rely on their food banks on campus… And housing is so unaffordable, so now students are having to rent places with a lot of them in one place. So you would have four or five people in a one bedroom as opposed to usually a one bedroom would take one or two people maximum. But a lot of people are now having to cut the cost by living in places that are not really good for them.”
The BCFS represents over 170,000 BC students at 14 post-secondary institutions—including Camosun—advocating for affordability and equity for students. Niikoi says the federation is currently voicing their desire to the BC government for greater funding of institutions to better support students.
“One thing that we are advocating for to the provincial government is to get more funding for institutions, because the one thing we have research on is that in the late 1990s to early 2000s, post-secondary was publicly funded around 70 percent to 80 percent from the provincial government,” she says. “As of right now, we’re sitting at less than 50 percent of that funding coming from the provincial government. So what needs to be done, and what we are advocating for, is for more funding for institutions so they don’t have to rely on students to make up for those funding shortfalls. Because these are things that we’re seeing across the province… The government needs to take this step in actually providing that upfront cost in terms of funding for institutions, so they don’t have to rely on students for that funding.”