UVic students commend BC Government for lowering interest rates on student loans
Victoria – Students across BC celebrated a huge win yesterday when Finance Minister Michael de Jong announced in the budget speech that the BC Government will lower the interest rate on student loans. Effective August 1, 2017, the interest rate on student loans will be reduced from prime plus 2.5% to prime only. Years of coordinated lobbying efforts by BC’s post-secondary students has resulted in a win that improves affordability for students.
“UVic students applaud the BC Government for reducing student loan interest and the burden of student debt,” said UVSS Director of Campaigns and Community Relations Maxwell Nicholson. “Working with other student unions across BC to make the student voice heard can pay huge dividends.”
A recent survey of students at 10 post-secondary institutions across BC conducted by Insights West in collaboration with the Alma Mater Society shows that 38% of students have taken out student loans. These students leave school with an average student loan burden of just over $27,000. Reducing the interest rate on these loans makes it easier for students to transition from university to their careers, allowing graduates to save and invest without the burden of high interest rates.
“While students at UVic are excited by the reduction in interest rates, there are still many student issues that were not addressed in the 2017 BC Budget,” said Nicholson. “There is a pressing need for access to affordable on-campus housing, core-funding increases for essential support services, and a comprehensive needs-based grants program.”
In the run up to the May 2017 provincial election, the UVSS will continue to work with other student unions in BC to advocate for post-secondary issues and to encourage youth voter participation. The UVSS will be launching the Count On Our Vote campaign in the coming weeks.
The University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS) was established in 1964 and represents the 18,000 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Maxwell Nicholson
UVSS Director of Campaigns & Community Relations
campaigns@uvss.ca, 250-721-8366
Media Advisory – September 26, 2016
UVic students set to host counsellor, educator, and artist Farrah Khan as a part of Sexualized Violence Awareness Month
Victoria – This Wednesday, the UVic Students’ Society (UVSS), Anti-Violence Project (AVP), and UVic will be co-hosting “We Begin By Listening” – a keynote presentation by Farrah Khan. Khan is nationally recognized counsellor, educator and artist with over 16 years of experience addressing gender-based violence.
Who: Farrah Khan, Ann-Bernice Thomas, and Jeremy Loveday
What: “We Begin By Listening” keynote presentation on sexualized violence
When: Wednesday September 28, 2016. 6:30pm.
Where: UVic Farquhar Auditorium
This keynote presentation is a part of Sexualized Violence Awareness Month and the Let’s Get Consensualcampaign. Join us as we work towards making our campus free of harm and shifting our culture to one of consent.
More info:
Web:
https://www.antiviolenceproject.org/svaw/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/690871104412689/
https://www.facebook.com/getconsent
The University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS) was established in 1964 and represents the 17,000 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria. Let’s Get Consensual is a campaign against the prevalence of rape culture and sexualized violence on campuses organized by AVP, UVSS, UVic, and partner organizations across British Columbia.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Maxwell Nicholson
UVSS Director of Campaigns & Community Relations
campaigns@uvss.ca, 250-721-8366
Free textbook adopted by Earth & Ocean Sciences course at UVic
Free textbook adopted by Earth & Ocean Sciences course at UVic
Students continue to advocate for more open educational resources
Victoria – As the UVic Students’ Society gets set to launch its textbook affordability campaign ‘TextbookBroke’ in September, some faculty at UVic are already moving forward to adopt free textbooks for their courses. Earth and Ocean Sciences 120 recently switched from a printed textbook worth $123.50 to a free online textbook offered through BCcampus’ Open Textbook Project.
“The adoption of Open Education Resources (OER) is a great step forward for students at UVic,” said UVSS Director of Campaigns Maxwell Nicholson. “If more colleges and universities throw their weight behind the BC Open Textbook Project and we see wider adoption, this has the potential to make education more affordable for students who are burdened by high debt, expensive course materials, and an extremely tight rental market.“
Textbook affordability has reached a crisis point. Prices have risen three times the rate of inflation since 1970. Textbooks can be up to 50% of the total cost of a university course. For students in EOS 120, the BC Open textbook could collectively save them up to $12,473.50 a year. Students at SImon Fraser and UBC have already seen many open textbook adoptions at their campuses and they are actively pushing for more.
“I’ve heard stories of first year students choosing courses based on how expensive the textbook is, or whether they will really need it for the course,” said UVic Earth and Ocean Sciences professor Lucinda Leonard. “We’d like to remove any obstacle to students being introduced to earth, ocean & atmospheric sciences.”
Over the coming year, the UVSS will continue to advocate for the adoption of more free open textbooks at UVic through ‘TextbookBroke’, a campaign run in partnership with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS) and the Alma Mater Society of UBC (AMS).
The University of Victoria Students’ Society (UVSS) was established in 1964 and represents the 17,000 undergraduate students at the University of Victoria.
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MEDIA CONTACTS:
Maxwell Nicholson
UVSS Director of Campaigns & Community Relations
campaigns@uvss.ca, 250-721-8366
JOINT PUBLIC STATEMENT TO UVSS MEMBERS
Last week, a matter came to the attention of the UVSS Elections Office and the University of Victoria Students’ Society (“UVSS”) that we would like to address in the following joint statement.
An unknown individual, likely through the use of an online simulator, fabricated a conversation on Facebook. The forged conversation purported to be between an unnamed student and a UVSS board member candidate. The Martlet reports that an unnamed student provided the Martlet with the screenshots on February 29 at 2:31am.
A professional graphic designer has conducted an analysis of the screenshots and has stated with full confidence that the screenshots were faked. According to the Martlet, the individual was unable and/or refused to provide proof that the screenshots were authentic and has also since deleted the Facebook account they used to correspond with the Martlet.
The UVSS and the UVSS Elections Office are concerned for the integrity of the elections process. Forged communications go beyond any definition of acceptable conduct during student elections, and elections in general. Such an act goes against the Electoral Policy Manual, specifically 5.8.4 Defamation, and 5.8.5 Libel, which are both listed as disqualifiable offences.
Statements by UVSS Directors and Officers, in some circumstances, may create liability for the UVSS. Misstatements wrongly attributed to a candidate can have a detrimental and long-lasting effect on a candidate’s future career opportunities and reputation.
UVSS elections are structured to be a positive experience for all candidates and to provide an opportunity to participate in our campus community. No candidate’s future career should be placed in jeopardy because of their involvement with the elections process. The UVSS Elections Office and the University of Victoria Students’ Society strongly condemns fraudulent attacks on any candidate made on a demonstrably fraudulent premise.
We hope that no further acts of this kind are perpetrated against any candidate during future elections, and we will continue to stand for fair, open, impartial, inclusive, and democratic student elections at the University of Victoria.
Sincerely,
Emma Hamill – Chief Electoral Officer, UVSS Elections
Solenn Madevon – Electoral Committee Chair, UVSS Board of Directors