Refugee Student & Volunteer Services

These two referendum questions both have relatively similar pros and cons. On one hand, both are noble causes that do offer real help. The Student Refugee Program is a great charity that has helped, and will continue to help, students from developing nations attend our post secondary institutions. Volunteer Services gives students valuable experience to learn from and to pad their resumes with, and also offers important services like the Volunteer Tax Program.

To be fair, the proposed increases are small. Volunteer services is asking for an additional $1.50 (their first increase since 1991), and the Refugee Student program for $0.50. However, even these increases might be unnecessary.

Both of these fee hikes could possibly be made up elsewhere, either from the rest of the SU’s $10 million budget or through charity. Cutting costs in rampant overspending would free up funds for more deserving programs like these. If not, “Petro Canada Student Refugee Program” has a nice ring to it.

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