Liberals propose grants for textbooks and travel

Photo provided.

Today Monique Smith, Nipissing Provincial Liberal incumbent along with Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay announced support for Northern Ontarians to purchase textbooks and supplies for postsecondary education

Full details contanied in the news release below.

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NIPISSING — Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay and Monique Smith, Liberal candidate for Nipissing, laid out the next step in the Ontario Liberals’ plan to improve access and quality in Ontario’s colleges and universities in the North by building on the $6.2 billion Reaching Higher investment in postsecondary education.

“I’m proud that we are working with Ontarians to strengthen publicly funded education from junior kindergarten to high school and university, college or an apprenticeship program,” said Smith today at Nipissing University and Canadore College.

“Ontario Liberals know that when you’re in college and university, there are a lot of expenses that you need to pay for, from textbooks, to rent, to everyday necessities,” she added.

“That’s why we’ll provide a $300 grant to students for technologies and textbooks to help you get started each school year — because we want to put more money in your pockets.”

“In today’s knowledge-based economy, the best jobs and the most investment will go to the place with the best-educated, most highly skilled people,” said Ramsay.

“Nothing is more important to moving forward and building the society we want to build, and the economy we need to sustain it, than publicly funded education from the early grades to postsecondary.”

Ontario Liberals will:

• Introduce special distance travel grants to help students who live in rural and northern areas meet the cost of commuting daily to a post-secondary institution.

• Introduce annual textbook and technology grants of $300 to help get students started

• Give students and parents of postsecondary students an upfront grant instead of making them wait for a tax credit at the end of the year

• Work with the federal government to double the time before graduates must begin paying back student loans from six months to one year so they have a chance to establish themselves before beginning payments

• Add 25 per cent more new apprenticeship positions.

These commitments would build on the Reaching Higher plan, the largest investment in higher education in 40 years. Under Reaching Higher, the Ontario Liberals have:

• Created 86,000 new spaces in colleges and universities

• Doubled student aid

• Brought back grants — cut under the NDP — for needy students each year

• Doubled the number of new apprenticeships.

“Investing in the education and skills of our people is the right course for our society, for our economy, for our families and our future,” said Ramsay. “That’s why we have made success for students our most important priority.”

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