4 UNBC Life

UNBC removes barrier for fostered youth

Tyson Kelsall
Contributor

NBC, under the encouragement of Social

Work professor and Ph.D. Glen Schmidt,
will stop charging youth in care for tuition.
This includes anybody who is or has been in
care under the Child, Family and Community
Services Act.

Schmidt recognizes the continuing rise

in costs for post-secondary education,

and his idea is that education would be
entirely publicly funded. He uses Sweden
as an example of that idealism. Germany
also recently reintroduced tuition-free
university. Schmidt does not see Canada

as being anywhere close to that model. He
does, however, see that giving students with
low economic background increased access
to post-secondary education is important.
Diversity in education, at least in theory,
has been a continued goal in the past few

The

BCLIP is an

decades for academia. Schmidt specifies

that a diversity of different socio-economic
backgrounds in a classroom setting leads to
better understanding, better communication,
and thus a better civil society.

Challenges for Canadian Youth in Care:

The cost of continuing one’s education
beyond secondary school is far from the
only hurdle youth in care must jump.
Schmidt points out that unlike a lot of
Canadian youth, who, when they turn 19,
still receive some level of support from
their parents, youth in care are shown
the door. Once having left, many youth in
care find themselves on income security
benefits. Schmidt says that within one year
of leaving, approximately half of former
youth in care are on social assistance.

The Representative for Children and Youth,
Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, compared former

educational — six-month

opportunity for Canadian university graduates
to work in British Columbia’s parliamentary
system. Your academic training will be
enhanced by exposure to public policy-making
and the legislative process by working in the
legislative branches of the
government at the Parliament

executive and
provincial
Buildings in Victoria.

British Columbia
LEGISLATIVE
INTERNSHIP

Program

B.C. residents are eligible to apply if they have
received their first Bachelor’s Degree from a
Canadian university within two years of the start
date of the 2016 program.

2016

Deadline:
January 31, 2015

Location: Parliament Buildings, Victoria, B.C.
Term: January 4 to June 24, 2016
Remuneration: $26,120 for six months

Apply online at:

PROGRAM DIRECTOR
www.leg.bc.ca

Karen L. Aitken
Legislative Assembly of B.C.
BCLIP@leg.bc.ca

ACADEMIC DIRECTOR
Dr. Patrick J. Smith
Simon Fraser University
psmith@sfu.ca

SLATIVE ASSp,
ge _ May,

ACADEMIC ADVISOR
Dr. Tracy Summerville
University of Northern B.C.
summervi@unbc.ca

Bz PROV INC E OF
RiTISH COLUN®®

in-care 19-year-olds with their counterparts,
and found that the former were: “less

likely to graduate from high school and
attend post-secondary education...[m]

ore likely to have mental health problems,
become parents at an early age, experience
trouble with employment, be involved in
the criminal justice system, receive social
assistance, experience homelessness or
have substance abuse issues.” It was Turpel-
Lafond who originally called upon British
Columbian colleges and universities to

bear the burden of tuition for youth in

care after seeing the government failing

to do so. Schmidt and Turpel-Lafond both
see the Province as a “bad parent”.

UNBC is not the first school in BC to waive
tuition for youth in care; Vancouver
Island University did so in the summer

of 2013, and the University of British
Columbia did so earlier this year.

Student Life

Suln Lee
Publisher

Who Will It Effect & How It Does Work:

Using UBC as a measuring stick, Schmidt
predicts this waiver will perhaps help

7 or 8 youth in care annually. UBC has
an undergraduate student population
of around 35,000 and had 18 students
benefit from the program last year.
UNBC has an undergraduate population
of 3500 students. According to Schmidt,
approximately 230 youth in care have

a strong enough GPA to become first-
year students in British Columbia.

The tuition waiver will not affect students
already receiving funding for their education,
such as Aboriginal students who already
receive full funding from their band. Students
wishing to use the waiver must already be
eligible for a university education. The waiver
will also not add any fees to other students
total tuition costs. The waiver will most likely
come into effect as of September 2015.

Stressbuster

fter each semester, students gradually
learn to procrastinate more efficiently.
It is around November when we wish
we would have started
everything earlier. Before
the panic hits, remember
to look around and
take advantage of
various events to
celebrate the
end of the 2014
year.

In a joint

partnership

between CNC and
UNBC, Student Life
and International
Education is hosting
a Winter Wonderland
Semi Formal party at 7:30

pm on November 29 in the NUSC space. The
event will feature an international food
festival, featuring foods from nine different
countries and offering a unique
experience for students to
discover new flavours and
ingredients. Some of the
options voted by the
students to be on the
menu include pakora,
dumplings, and
spring rolls. Before
the excitement
of food goes
away, a DJ will be
brought in for a
de-stress dance-off.

Get the $5.00 tickets
from Student Life office
as they are selling fast!