HALIFAX--Students and their families will have a chance to discuss their concerns with the Nova Scotia student financial assistance program at seven upcoming public consultations across the province.�Report after report has shown that student debt in Nova Scotia is out of control,� said Kaley Kennedy, Nova Scotia Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students. �During these consultations, students and their families need to be vocal about increasing access to post-secondary education and drastically reducing student debt.�

In a recent poll conducted by Decima Research, 40% of respondents with an income of less than $40,000 said that they, or someone in their family, had chosen not to attend university because it could mean taking on too much debt. Currently, the average student in Nova Scotia graduates with $28,000 of debt after an undergraduate degree.

�The government needs to start addressing the core causes of student debt by reducing tuition fees and introducing more needs-based grants,� continued Kennedy, �The most effective means of providing debt relief to students is to prevent students from taking on crippling debts in the first place.�