SMUSA’s Advocacy Initiative: Advocacy Week

Above: SMUSA President Shiray Tan with StudentsNS members

Written by Samarth Behl

Photos by StudentsNS Instagram

Did you know that tuition fees for full-time domestic undergraduate students in Nova Scotia are 36.5% above the current national average? The province has witnessed a 20% increase in average university tuition fees between 2017-2023! International students' tuition has increased by 19.8% just over the past five years. Given these astonishing figures, it is imperative that student voices find a platform where they can be truly heard and acknowledged. This is where Advocacy Week comes into play. It is a crucial annual gathering for student leaders and key stakeholders where student issues are discussed and potential solutions and recommendations are made.

Advocacy Week: A Platform for Change

During the latest Advocacy Week, held between November 13 and 17 2023, representatives from StudentsNS and student associations around the province, including SMUSA, brought forth student issues and recommendations to improve accessibility, affordability, quality, and overall experience for university students in Nova Scotia. SMUSA’s president, Shiray Tan, and VP of Advocacy, Anubhav Gupta, met with Minister Timothy Halman, Minister Colton LeBlanc, ADM Nicole, Special Advisor Cecilley, Honourable Speaker Karla MacFarlane, NDP leader Claudia Chender and MLA Lisa Lachance to discuss student concerns. This initiative catalyses  change by channelling the collective voice of students to address critical issues like rising tuition fees, housing shortages, rent hikes and the increasing cost of learning materials, making sure that student needs are heard beyond the campus. During these advocacy week, SMUSA and other student association bodies discussed the following problems and potential solutions with policymakers:

Financial Assistance: Breaking Monetary Barriers for Student

One of the most critical focus areas during Advocacy Week was the financial strain students have recently faced. Our province faces the harsh challenge of high tuition fees for domestic and international students. The Nova Scotia Student Assistance Program (NSSAP) assists over 11,000 borrowers annually. However, financial barriers still persist, with many students struggling to pay tuition and dropping out as a result.

To address this, StudentsNS recommends a series of impactful measures. These include improving access to financial aid by increasing scholarship and bursary exemption amounts, promoting the value of in-study employment by raising maximum study-period earnings, and increasing full support for student assistance. These recommendations aim to reconstruct a supportive environment where students can pursue higher education without worrying about financial constraints. These initiatives have a direct impact on student aid, making sure that students who are in need actually benefit from these measures.

Equitable Healthcare Access: Nurturing International Students

International students contribute significantly to Nova Scotia's economic and cultural fabric. Advocacy Week emphasised the significance of providing equitable and easily accessible healthcare to international students, recognising their vital role in the province's demographic and economic growth. Presently, bureaucratic hurdles impact international students' eligibility for Medical Service Insurance (MSI), and their ability to access necessary healthcare.

To address this, StudentsNS proposes eliminating the 13-month waiting period for international students to apply for MSI coverage and extending continuous coverage from one to two years. By streamlining these processes, students can get better access to  medical facilities when in need.

Student Housing: Collaborative Solutions for a Growing Demand

Atlantic students, on average, face rental expenses almost as high as $1000 per month, which is pretty expensive. The Nova Scotia Provincial Housing Needs Assessment Report for 2023 adds to this narrative, revealing that nearly 9% of students find themselves unhoused, while 17% endure crowded housing spaces lacking sufficient bedrooms. These figures highlight the harsh reality faced by students pursuing higher education in Nova Scotia, where the rising demand for student housing is met with an inadequate supply.

Within this context, Advocacy Week served as a crucial platform for student representatives to address the housing crisis head-on, presenting recommendations that work towards collaborative solutions that create affordable and high-quality student housing options.

A government-funded Provincial Student Housing Committee put through housing-focused proposals during Advocacy Week to tackle the housing crisis. The committee would collaborate with students on solutions to the crisis while working on campus-specific housing plans built by individual institutions and aligning them with a provincial student housing strategy that prioritises students, ensuring sufficient and affordable housing.

Leading in Online Learning: A Call for Affordable Educational Resources

In higher education, the financial strain on students extends beyond tuition fees to include the exorbitant costs of mandatory textbooks, paid softwares, and other educational materials. A study reveals that undergraduate students in Nova Scotia can anticipate spending approximately $600 to $1000 annually on textbooks alone. Moreover, a Maclean’s report in 2017 concluded that 6 out of the 10 Nova Scotian universities were among the 50 schools with the highest textbook costs. As a result, Open Educational Resources (OERs) became a viable substitute for traditional textbooks. These resources are educational materials that are freely accessible, usable, modifiable, and shareable online. Books, lecture notes, films, and other materials are among them. OER can be produced by individuals or organisations and distributed under licences permitting unrestricted use and modification.

To tackle this problem, SMUSA has taken steps of its own by planning to launch the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Course List at Saint Mary’s University. Inspired by the StFX Students’ Union, this list aims to compile courses that don't require students to purchase textbooks or additional software and is available to students at https://smusa.ca/ztc, with more courses being added to the list day by day. Given the financial challenges SMU students face, with tuition reaching almost $9000 for domestic students and $22,400 for international students, the ZTC Course List aims to alleviate the burden by educating students about which courses have additional costs.

In conclusion, Advocacy Weeks resonates with the call for change in Nova Scotia's postsecondary education. The recommendations by StudentsNS, echoed by SMUSA, address the core issues of tuition affordability, equitable healthcare access, student housing, and the accessibility of educational resources, urging stakeholders to consider and implement transformative reforms in favour of all students. These crucial gatherings and discussions serve as a collaborative platform for change and signal a promising step in the right direction.

A SPECIAL THANKS TO ANUBHAV GUPTA, SMUSA’S VP OF ADVOCACY, WHO TOOK THE TIME TO MEET WITH ME DURING BREAK WEEK TO DISCUSS ADVOCACY WEEKS AND SMUSA’S OTHER ADVOCACY INITIATIVES.