The Canadian Federation of Students is Canada’s national student movement. The CFS represents over 42,000 students in Manitoba, and more than half a million students across the country.
Through the Canadian Federation of Students students work to improve the lives of students and advocates for better public education policy. This work has become even more important since last April’s announcement by the provincial government that it plans to give in to lobbying by the university presidents club by lifting the tuition fee freeze. You will no doubt hear the argument that allowing moderate tuition fee increases while providing grants to needy students is the best way to boost campus enrolment and give universities more funding. The evidence from past experience says otherwise: funding is retrenched and fees get out of control fast, leaving many potential students behind. Although more needs to be done to improve access to and quality of education, it is crucial to defend the freeze, to ensure that we don’t lose any more students to high debt and higher financial barriers. Feel free to contact me if you would like details about the facts and arguments.
In Manitoba, students at Brandon University and the Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface, undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Manitoba, and students at the University of Winnipeg are members of CFS. If you are a student on any of these campuses, you are part of the student movement. Contact your campus students’ union to find out more!
The Drop Fees campaign is a coordinated effort to make high quality public university and college education more accessible for all. We are calling on governments to increase funding for education and reduce tuition fees.
Along with students in Ontario and other jurisdictions in Canada and worldwide who are also building campaigns, students in Manitoba are calling for action to Drop Fees and increase funding for education.
Students are building a united front for more funding and lower user fees, and an end to the commodification of education and other public services.
With the threat of full tuition fee deregulation in Manitoba, now is the time to take action for accessible education.
For more information about the Canadian Federation of Students, please visit www.cfsmb.ca.