Former foster children will get free tuition at any college or university in B.C. under a new program announced Friday by the provincial government.
Premier John Horgan said the government will waive tuition fees at all 25 post-secondary schools for any young person from B.C. who spent at least two years in provincial care.
“I can’t think of a better way to start September than to announce there will no longer be tuition costs for those kids who have had the roughest of goes and we want to have the brightest of futures,” he said.
Horgan made the announcement at Vancouver Island University, which, in 2013, became the first post-secondary school in B.C. to offer free tuition to young people aging out of government care.
The school was responding at the time to a challenge by then-representative for children and youth Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who had urged all post-secondary schools to waive fees for former foster kids. The University of Victoria and nine other schools adopted programs similar to the one at VIU.
Horgan, who fought back tears as he made the announcement, said he wanted to show children in care that the government has their back.
“I was the first child in my family to get an opportunity to attend a post-secondary institution, and I had help along the way,” he said, pausing to compose himself.
“I believe it’s the genuine power of giving people opportunity, that once someone, an individual, has hope and has people at their back, they can achieve virtually anything.”
Vancouver Island University president Ralph Nilson thanked Turpel-Lafond “for poking us with a sharp stick,” and said the new program would help change lives.
“The doors are open,” he said. “We’re all going to be providing opportunities for kids to come in. And this will be a game-changer for individuals, but it will be a game-changer for the province in terms of demonstrating that the government cares.”
For 24-year-old Jordanna Southall, the chance for free tuition at Vancouver Island University was a lucky break at just the right time.
“It was amazing,” said Southall, who now lives in Campbell River and is employed as a social worker.
“I was able to finish school, and getting the tuition waiver just sort of pushed me through,” she said in an interview.
Southall grew up near Qualicum Beach in a foster family from the age of four.
At 17, she left home to start a bachelor’s degree at the University of Victoria. She also remained close with her foster family and returned for summers and holidays.
But after her second year, she was getting a little overwhelmed and her student loans were piling up.
That’s when her social worker told her of Vancouver Island University’s move to waive tuition fees for young people who had been raised in foster care.
Southall completed the last two years of her degree at VIU and said the transfer to the Nanaimo-based campus was perfect.
“When I got there, I just felt safe,” she said.
Turpel-Lafond, who attended Friday’s announcement, said it was a satisfying moment for her after years of trying to convince the former B.C. Liberal government to act.
“It was a fight and it was not an easy one, and I went to government repeatedly and said: ‘This is so easy to do. This is going to cost you less than $1 million, and you can do it immediately. And it’s so inspirational to those kids in Grade 3 and Grade 4 who are in care [and] who are behind and need support.’
“And they wouldn’t do it.”
So Turpel-Lafond said she appealed directly to colleges and universities, and got 11 of them board.
“I was very proud of all of those schools for coming on, but now it’s going to be all 25.”
Turpel-Lafond expressed her thanks to all British Columbians, many of whom struggle to send their own children to college or university.
“I hope that those barriers will come down, but for kids in care, the state is the parent and this is the right thing to do,” she said.
The tuition waiver is the latest in a series of moves by the NDP government to follow through on key promises in its election platform.
Last month, Horgan announced that his government was scrapping tuition fees for adult basic education and English language training programs.
The Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training will cover the cost of the tuition waiver for the remainder of the 2017-18 fiscal year, the government said. A more comprehensive plan will be developed in time for the 2018-19 budget.
The tuition waivers will be available to young people from B.C., age 19 to 26, who were in government care for at least two years. Eligible students who have already paid their school fees this year will get a refund.
