HALIFAX--Today, as MLA's return to Province House for the fall session of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly, Halifax-area students are hitting classrooms and hallways to collect signatures on a petition to increase funding to universities, reduce tuition fees and increase grants.

"This is a big year for Nova Scotia students and our families," said Elise Graham, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia. "We're calling on our elected representatives to make a well-funded and accessible system of post-secondary education their priority during this session of the legislature and the upcoming Memorandum of Understanding negotiations."

Students will be making classroom announcements and collecting petition signatures throughout the day at the University of King's College, Dalhousie University and NSCAD as part of the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia's ongoing Reduce Fees-Drop Debt campaign. Yesterday students collected over a hundred signatures at Mount Saint Vincent University. Students and members of the general public can also send an email to their local MLA asking them to increase funding, reduce fees and drop student debt by visiting www.cfs-ns.ca.

On September 17 former Bank of Montreal Vice-President Dr. Tim O'Neill presented Premier Darrell Dexter with the government commissioned Report on the University System in Nova Scotia. The report recommends complete deregulation of tuition fees and policies that would result in massive increases in student debt. Under the current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which expires March 31, 2011, universities were guaranteed three years of funding and tuition fees were frozen for Nova Scotia students.

"High tuition fees and rising student debt impede access for students from low- and middle-income families and drive our graduates out of the province," said Graham. "Reducing tuition fees and dropping debt isn't just a better deal for students, it's a better deal for Nova Scotia."Currently, average undergraduate tuition fees in Nova Scotia are $5, 495 while average student debt after a four-year degree is $31, 000.