Investing in Canada’s Youth and Education
- Our Government wants to ensure that youth have access to employment in high-demand fields and have the skills and education necessary to get these jobs.
- Providing young Canadians with the opportunities, information, and education they need to succeed is essential for Canada’s long-term economic prosperity.
- That’s why Economic Action Plan 2015 continues to make investments in supporting youth and education, with measures including:
- Expanding the Eligibility for Low- and Middle-Income Canadians to access Canada Student Grants for short duration programs.
- Enhancing Access to Post-Secondary Education by eliminating in-study income for the Canada Student Loans program needs assessment process.
- Making Canada student loans work for families” by providing $119M over 4 years, starting in 2016-17, to reduce the expected parental contribution under the Canada Student Loans needs assessment process
- Improving First Nations Education through an investment in Indspire and education infrastructure.
- Providing Post-Secondary Scholarships and Bursaries for First Nations and Inuit students.
- Expanding the Computers for Schools Program to help connect low-income Canadians with refurbished computers.
- These actions build on our record of support to date, which includes:
- Increasing the Canada Social Transfer by $800 million per year starting in 2008-09, to strengthen the quality and competitiveness of Canada’s post-secondary education system. This support will continue to grow for 2014-15 and beyond.
- Supporting internships for young Canadians with a $40 million investment to support up to 3,000 internships for post-secondary graduates in high-demand fields and $15 million to support up to 1,000 internships in small and medium-sized businesses.
- Empowering First Nations students by making historic investments to improve the quality and ensure accountability of education on reserves.
- Investing $125 million for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships to attract and retain world-class doctoral students.
- Providing more than $260 million for new Canada Graduate Scholarships to support graduate-level students who have demonstrated a high standard of achievement.
- Investing over $330 million per year through the Youth Employment Strategy to help young Canadians get the skills and work experience they need to transition to the workplace.
- Investing $123 million to streamline and modernize the Canada Student Loans Program.
- Allowing full-time students to earn more money by doubling the in-study income exemption, benefiting approximately 100,000 students each year.
- Allowing part-time students to have higher family incomes without affecting their eligibility for Canada Student Loans.
- Increasing the income eligibility threshold for part-time students used to determine eligibility for the Canada Student Grant to align it with the threshold for full-time students from low-income families.
- Reducing the in-study interest rate for part-time students to zero, saving them approximately $5.6 million per year.
- Extending support for Pathways to Education Canada to support students at risk of dropping out of high school through tutoring and mentoring.
- Investing $70 million to support 5,000 more paid internships for recent post-secondary graduates.
- Supporting youth entrepreneurship by providing $49 million to the Canadian Youth Business Foundation to help young entrepreneurs grow their firms.
- Creating the Canada Apprentice Loan to provide apprentices registered in Red Seal Trades with access to interest-free loans totaling over $100 million each year to help with their costs.
- Simplifying the Canada Student Loans Program by no longer including the value of vehicles that students need to get to school and work in the loan assessment process. As a result, 19,000 students – mainly in rural and suburban communities – will get increased access to student loans.
- Helping young entrepreneurs by investing an additional $40 million to help young entrepreneurs get the mentorship, financial support, business advice, and development space they need to grow their ideas and start-ups.
- Providing students with access to technology and skills training by investing $36 million in the renewed Computer for Schools Program.
- Promoting healthier lifestyles by an additional investment in the le Grand défi Pierre Lavoie to promote healthy living and physical activity for school children across Canada.
- Creating 3,000 paid internship opportunities in high-demand fields.
- Supporting another 1,000 internships in small and medium sized businesses
- Creating the new Flexibility and Innovation in Apprenticeship Technical Training expands apprenticeship training – $13M over 4 years
