The premier said she is currently contemplating what supports her government may be able to introduce to help students and recent grads.
Speaking during a weekly call-in radio show, the premier said she is currently contemplating, alongside Affordability and Utilities Minister Matt Jones, what supports her government may be able to introduce to help students and recent grads as inflation and living costs remain high.
Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails or any newsletter. Postmedia Network Inc. | 365 Bloor Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4W 3L4 | 416-383-2300A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again“We’re contemplating some support for students,” said Smith. “I don’t want to prejudge how that will go because the advice has to go through our caucus and our cabinet but, we’re actively talking about how we can give some support for students.” Smith announced a slew of affordability packages last November including six monthly $100 payments for some Albertans including those with children, individuals on long-term disability supports and seniors. The package, which also includes a suspension of the provincial gas tax and re-indexing of several support programs, is expected to cost the government $2.8 billion over three years.Article content The package however came under fire from critics questioning why families with a household income of less than $180,000 would receive support while single Albertans and students who make lower wages would not. Responding to such criticism from a caller Saturday, Smith said her government struggled with who should receive payments but wanted to ensure single parents received assistance based on the additional costs associated with raising children. “if you’re also supporting somebody who is a sort of a 35-year-old oil worker who makes under the threshold, are you really targeting the support to where it’s most needed?” asked Smith. “It’s really difficult to try to get the targeted support to singles and we’ve been doing a lot of work internally to try to figure out how we do that. It’s why we’re having a discussion about how we can support students and recent grads.”Article content Smith said she is working to find a way to show the Auditor General that supports for students would be targeted at those who need it most, however, they have not found the right answer to what those supports may be. The statement comes a day after students at the University of Calgary held protests on campus againstspoke out against the average tuition increase of 5.5. per cent. While details around what provincial supports may be coming for students, Jones stated earlier this month that they were exploring “all options” when it comes to making life more affordable for post-secondary students. When asked directly if lowering tuition costs was being considered he reiterated everything was on the table.The province rolled out its application portal for direct affordability payments earlier this week. Smith said Saturday that as of Friday there were over 355,000 applications that had been processed and that first payments would be going out at the end of January.
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