Ontario Government Reneges on Textbook Grant
>> Sunday, May 3, 2009
A year after the Ontario Government announced that it was going to support all college and university students with a $150 textbook grant, they have reneged on their commitment and now announced that instead of raising the amount as they had promised, they will be slashing it.
Students who receive OSAP (Ontario Student Assistance Program) funding will be the only ones that will get the textbook grant - and the amount will remain at $150 rather than the $225 that was promised.
A similar grant for students who go to a school more than 80km from their home (which I never heard about or I would certainly have applied) is also now being restricted to only OSAP eligible students.
What this decision does - aside from demonstrating that the Ontario government does not follow through on their commitments - is to further remove support from those people who because they work and made good financial decisions, or were born to or married people who did - do not qualify for student funding.
If you have retirement savings or property, the Ontario government will not support your education - not even with loans that you have to pay back - and not even with a grant that in many programs covers only the cost of at most one or two of your textbooks.
So much for the Ontario government's supposed commitment to education.
This is absolutely and utterly disgusting. And you know if they didn't have the economy as their excuse, they'd have found another one. Bunch of moronic louts.
And the horrible thing is that we don't anyone viable to vote for instead of these creeps. Though I may just vote NDP anyway.
For long term economic health, there is no better investment any country can make than supporting and encouraging education. Look at the cultures that stress education and compare where they were 30 years ago to where they are now.
Short term stupidity strikes again.