HALIFAX--This afternoon, Dr. Laura Penny, university lecturer and author of More Money than Brains, made the case for a tuition fee reduction in a lecture delivered to university students, staff, and community members outside of Province House.

"If Nova Scotians are genuinely concerned about the fact that our population is aging and shrinking, then it strikes me as not just stupid, but disastrously stupid, to cut funding to the one sector that dependably brings thousands of new people, young people, to the province every year," said Penny.

The teach-out entitled, "Take Your MLAs Back to School," was organised by students to as part of the Reduce Fees-Drop Debt Campaign, which calls on the Dexter government to increase funding for post-secondary education, reduce tuition fees for all students, and increase the non-repayable grant portion of a student loan.

Students in Nova Scotia pay some of the highest tuition fees in the country, at an average of almost $5,500 per year and on average graduate with over $31,000 in debt after an undergraduate degree. In September, the government released a report, written by former Bank of Montreal Economist Tim O'Neill, that recommends massive tuition fees hikes and policy changes that would cause student debt to increase indefinitely."O'Neill admits that he did not even bother to explore the benefits of reducing tuition fees in his 188-page report," said Elise Graham, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students – Nova Scotia. "Students have done our homework, we know that reducing tuition fees is a good deal for our economy and a good deal for Nova Scotia."