Food banks specifically for students could help ease the debt caused by high tuition fees, according to young people and experts at a Carleton University forum.
Many of the students at the youth forum talked about their struggle to “make ends meet” with the pressure from tuition fees, expensive books, rent, and general living costs.
They need to rely on food banks not as a “stop gap” but a monthly necessity.
The forum, sponsored by Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar, centred around youth issues was attended by 15- to 35-year-old participants. Guest speakers included representatives from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; HubOttawa, an innovation centre; and NextUp, a Canadian youth advocacy network.
Dewar said the forum was held to hear directly from youths about their concerns.
“We want to look at some solutions to the issues that face them. Everything from post-secondary education and training, to opportunities for jobs and other issues they are concerned about,” said Dewar.
Erika Shaker, director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, talked about society’s prevailing attitude that youths are a privileged generation.
“I expect you’re used to being told the difficulties you’re facing are your fault because you don’t know what hard work is, or because you’re entitled and you think the world owes you something. If you stopped complaining and saved your money and stopped taking useless degrees everything would be fine,” said Shaker
But things are very different from 30 years ago, said Shaker.
The average debt of university students is $26,000 through provincial and federal loans with more money often borrowed from family and credit cards.
Many graduates are being forced to take insecure jobs with low pay and no benefits or even unpaid internships, she said.
One of the young people at the meeting described the financial crisis faced by some students as not being recognized by existing public service programs.
She said students were always “at the bottom of the list” with programs such as food banks compared to those with “a young child, or homeless people.”
She talked of the need for it to be seen as acceptable for students to go to a food bank, or public service and to have ones specifically for students.
Samantha Ingram, a spokesperson for the Ottawa Food Bank, says it’s important for everyone – including students – to feel like they can go to a food bank
“It is so easy for anyone to fall on hard times,” she says.
She says there are more students using food banks in recent years and people should feel that they are able to ask for help at school.
“The aims of food banks are simple, everyone has the right to food. Food banks can’t solve issues like increasing tuition fees, but they are something there to help until a better solution comes along,” she said.
The problems faced by youths today were based on a societal attitude, according to the guest speakers.
Both the young people and experts agreed that youths are not always privileged and don’t have an easy time in education or in the job market. Creating programs to help them should also be seen as benefitting society as a whole because it leads to an increase in skilled workers.
Some short-term solutions to the issues raised by the youths were for them to take an unpaid internship only if they felt it would give them valuable skills.
The speakers said it is important for young people to reach out for help when they need it through programs like the food banks.
The students themselves said they would like to see an increase in specific programs advertised for them so it felt more acceptable to ask for help.
Dewar proposed providing incentives to employers to take on young people to give them paid work experience to try and reduce the number of unpaid internships.