Our province has more universities per capital than anywhere else in Canada; however, according to recent Statistics Canada data, only 57 per cent of university graduates stay in the province. Attempts to explain this range from the student’s original place of residence to job options to income earned. The many explanations offered ignore one central issue: student debt.
Roger Taylor, a business columnist for the Chronicle Herald, argues that the students’ original place of residence and employment options available after graduation are two of the most important factors that affect a students decision to stay in the province.
In his column, Taylor pointed to Statistics Canada data that showed 30 per cent of Nova Scotia post-secondary students come from outside of the province; more than three times the national average of eight per cent. He also states that the highest employment rates in the United States and Canada are found in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces; according to Statistics Canada, Nova Scotia’s unemployment rate was 9.1 per cent and the national average was 6.6 per cent.
Where are all of the graduates going? Alberta.
A recent column in MacLean’s On Campus stated that one in five workers in Alberta come from outside of the province and that of the people with post-secondary certifications of some kind or another – diploma or degree – more than 6,500 came from the Atlantic Provinces.
Some people do not believe that a mobile labour force is a big issue. They argue that a mobile labour force is similar to mobile capital; it flows from one place to another depending on the number of jobs and how much the available jobs pay. Not everyone holds such beliefs.
Several provinces are going further than merely disagreeing with the benefits of a mobile labour force; they are actively working to entice workers to voluntarily stay in the province in which they received their post-secondary education. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick all offer tuition rebates and tax incentives in an attempt to get people to stay out of the pool of workers willing to migrate.
In Nova Scotia, the government has launched a program, Opportunities Nova Scotia, which actively works to keep graduates and workers here and goes a step further, the program goes to Alberta and Ontario and attempts to convince Nova Scotians working in those provinces to return home. The province argues that the cost of homes, life style, crime rates and proximity to family members means that you can stay close to home, keep in touch with your family and make your dollar go farther.
Whether answers are coming from columnists, the C.D. Howe Institute and think tanks or the provincial government; there is one key factor that is left out: the affect that the cost of an education has on a graduates finances and future goals.
Upon graduating, the average student in Nova Scotia is approximately $25,000 in debt. This means that most university graduates leave university with a financial monkey on their back the size of a small mortgage or a decent-sized car loan. When you combine high debt rates with a high rate of interest on loans from the Canada Student Loans Program, students are faced with incredible monthly payments for years to come.
The unavoidable fact is that Nova Scotia has the highest tuition rates in Canada, on average, and that means that we will have some of the highest debt loans in the country. Starting life off in the “real world” is financially debilitating and it is no wonder many students head west to the money; expecting anything less would be unrealistic.
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