The NDP’s Tuition Waiver Program is doing what it’s supposed to according to the Provincial Minister for Advanced Education.
So far 1,119 young people that grew up in government care have enrolled in the program.
While appearing on the NL Morning News yesterday, Melanie Mark explained just who the program is intended for. “These are kids that have grown up in government care, they have social workers, they have foster parents, they may have moved multiple times.”
“They went into care because of neglect or abuse, their parents may have died. So these are kids that really are the responsibility of government.”
Mark said the program wants to turn the negative into the positive. “We often hear about the negative stories of youth in care.”
“We often hear about the tragedies. We often hear about the statistics and we’re trying to write a new chapter.
“We’re trying to tell a new story about the resilience of young people.”
The Minister stressed how important the program has been for young people that grew up in the system. “Often young people in care don’t get that encouragement to be told that you can do anything if you set your mind to it and the sky is truly the limit.”
“So, I can’t wait to go to their grads in fact and hopefully I get a chance to do that up at TRU or other places across the province.”
This morning we had the opposition Critic for Advanced Education on to give his two cents.
Simon Gibson was quite complimentary of the NDP’s handling of the program but the Liberal MLA didn’t mind taking some of the credit. “It’s a good thing. You know we’re happy to see that. It was really some thing we started and it was going quite well.”
“We had a trajectory and I think had we been government we’d probably be in a similar position today.”
Gibson added “These folks need extra attention. They’re vulnerable and just to navigate the university system and all of the financial needs is a challenge for them. So it’s a good thing, this government really picked up on what we started, so we’re happy to see it.”
