HALIFAX--Two Halifax-area students called on the provincial government today to repeal an unfair social assistance regulation that they say has made it unreasonably difficult for them to pursue a post-secondary education at a press conference at Mount Saint Vincent University.

"I'm a single mother trying to get an education so I can get off the system," said Patricia Stephens-Brown, student at MSVU.

"Community Services wants to cut off my social assistance. They don't want to help pay for my family's living expenses while I'm in school."

The current Employment Support and Income Assistance (ESIA) Act prevents a person from receiving social assistance if they are enrolled in a post-secondary program. In response topublic criticism the Department of Community Services introduced Career Seek in 2006, a program allowing approved social assistance recipients to attend university. A recent Freedom of Information request reveals that only 35 people throughout Nova Scotia have been approved for the program since 2007.

"In the nineties it was hard to imagine that the situation for people on social assistance could get any worse. Then we got the ESIA Act," said Donna Franey, Executive Director of Dalhousie Legal Aid Service. "Students with greater expenses, such as single parents and people with certain disabilities, are the ones most likely to be held back by the regulation."In response to a question posed in the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia's 2009 provincial election questionnaire, the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party promised to do away with Regulation 67, the regulation that excludes university students from receiving social assistance even when they show financial need.

"Education is a right and low-income Nova Scotians should receive the support they need to attend university," said Kaley Kennedy, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia. "We're calling on government to keep its promise and allow students to access employment support and income assistance."