B.C. Universities ask government for money for students

British Columbia’s six biggest research universities are asking for $130 million to be spent over the next four years for more student spaces, grants, and scholarships.

With a provincial election coming up, the Research Universities’ council stated that now is the perfect time to create a proposal with their demands saying, “We want to make sure that they got a summary of what we think.”

According to the Canadian University Press, the proposal also asks for $36 million in non-repayable, needs-based grants for undergrads, which was cut by the B.C. Liberals back in 2005.

The presidents of UBC, Simon Fraser, Thompson Rivers, Royal Roads, and the University of Northern B.C., which make up the council, believe that by 2020, there could be 32,000 open jobs in B.C that will need a post-secondary education.