VANCOUVER--In a survey released today, TD Canada Trust shows that more students and their families in British Columbia expect to incur student debt to pay for post-secondary education than last year. This highlights an urgent need for better student financial assistance and lower tuition fees, says the Canadian Federation of Students-BC."BC has the worst system of student financial assistance in the country," said Zach Crispin, Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-BC. "It is no wonder students are shouldering an ever larger debt load to attend post-secondary education."

Families in British Columbia are faced with the highest student debt west of the Maritimes, but the lowest provincial spending on non-repayable student assistance."Families are struggling because tuition fees are too high," continued Crispin. "The BC Liberal government is making it harder to afford post-secondary education every year."Reducing tuition fees, eliminating interest on student loans, increasing core funding to institutions, and re-instating the BC Student Grants Program are goals of the Education Shouldn't be a Debt Sentence campaign of the Canadian Federation of Students-BC.

The Canadian Federation of Students-BC is composed of 150,000 students from 17 university and college students' unions. Post-secondary students in Canada have been represented by the Canadian Federation of Students and its predecessor organisations since 1927.