HALIFAX--Today's provincial budget contained no new incentives to attract and keep graduates from Nova Scotia post-secondary institutions in the province, despite the recommendations in the final report ofthe province's "Back to Balance" consultations.

"The final report from the Back to Balance consultations clearly illustrates that Nova Scotians understand the importance of investing in post-secondary education," said Jake Byrne, Nova Scotia Representative of the Canadian Federation of Students. "The government of Nova Scotia has missed an important opportunity to address the looming skills shortage created by an aging population, extreme student debt, and out-migration."

The final report from the "Back to Balance" financial consultations, released last week, listed investing in education as the number one recommendation from participants to grow the economy in the long term. Additionally, one of the most common recommendations from participants regarding changes to government programs and services was to "provide more incentives to attract and keep university students in Nova Scotia" including reducing loans, investing in more grants, and reducing tuition fees.

Nova Scotia has the second highest average tuition fees in the country and the highest average student debt in Canada at just under $30,000 for a four-year undergraduate degree."This is the second budget from the NDP government and we have yet to see any measures to increase the affordability of post-secondary education in the province," said Byrne. "If the government is serious about keeping students in the province, they need to invest in needs-based grants and a tuition fee reduction for all students."

The recent pre-budget submission released by the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia, the Association of Nova Scotia University Teachers (ANSUT) and the Nova Scotia General Employees Union (NSGEU) entitled "Strengthening Post-Secondary Education in Nova Scotia" can be downloaded at www.cfs-ns.ca.

The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada's largest student organisation, uniting more that one-half million students in all ten provinces.