VANCOUVER--College and university-college deficits, $32 million in tuition fee hikes, and $20 million in cuts to student financial aid Budget 2008 is a dismal picture for students and post-secondary institutions.

"British Columbians need a strategy to address the skills shortage in BC," said Shamus Reid, BC Chairperson. "Cutting student financial aid, increasing tuition fees, and putting colleges into deficit situations worsen the long-term economic outlook for British Columbia, particularly low-income and rural British Columbians."

Ignoring post-seducation is a senseless strategy when the government is trying to convince British Columbians it cares about combatting climate change through research, innovation, and better business and individual practices."

Government revenues from tuition fees increases by $32 million to $989 million with Budget 2008, accounting for 2.5% of all government revenues. Student loan disbursements are budgeted to decline by $20 million (7.4%), as participation from low and middle-income students continues to decline. Per-student funding will also decline for yet another year by over 3%, and BC colleges are projected to run a collective deficit of $14 million, increasing to $30 million in two years.

"This government will take any opportunity to package a tax cut as a strategy to meet BC's needs," said Shamus Reid, BC Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. "Last year it was supposedly housing and this year it's climate change, but the story remains the same: corporate tax cuts while public services, like post-secondary education, continue to decline."

Tuition fees in BC are more than $600 above the national average, and student debt in the province is highest in Canada outside the Maritimes, at $27,000.