'They exaggerated': Liberals 'announce big' then disappoint, say PCs

New Brunswick Progressive Conservative post-secondary education critic Madeleine Dubé is accusing the Gallant government of purposely over-selling the benefits of its "free tuition" program last spring after 2,000 fewer low income students were helped by it than predicted.

"I think they exaggerated," said Dubé. "They always want to have the good headlines.

"They announce big and then after that people are disappointed."

They announce big and then after that people are disappointed.- Madeleine Dubé, PC MLA

On Saturday, the province revealed that 5,100 students received a "Tuition Access Bursary" (TAB) this year after announcing last April that an estimated 7,100 students were in position to "immediately benefit" from the program.

The tuition access bursary is designed to cover 100 per cent of a low-income student's tuition costs by supplementing all other student grants enough so tuition is completely covered.

The claim that 7,100 low-income students would be helped by the "free tuition" bursary was picked up and widely reported by media organizations at the time, although it's not clear how government developed an estimate that turned out to be nearly 40 per cent too high.

'It's an estimate'

Post-Secondary Education Minister Donald Arseneault said staff in the department calculated the figure as best they could.

"A number had to be put and they're just looking at historical data and they decided to put that number," said Arseneault. "I don't look at it as a mistake. It's an estimate."

But Dubé questions whether over-estimating the demand for TAB means the province could have eased back on more than $50 million in cuts to other student debt relief programs that were meant, in part, to make room for the initiative.

One year before TAB the province cancelled a $26-million tuition rebate program for recent graduates that they were promised while still in school. In addition it cut a $21-million program that allowed students or their parents to deduct tuition and education expenses from their income taxes and took millions more from a student debt-ceiling program in place for those who graduate on time.

'Disappointed a lot of people'

"They disappointed a lot of people along the way by trying to get after a good line and a good picture in the paper," said Dubé.

But Arseneault says after a slower-than-expected start the TAB program will eventually prove itself as more and more low income families see its benefit.

• Free tuition program for low-income students falls far below target
• Province ties new tuition bursaries to family size and income

"The segment that we're targeting are people we feel we have to get at an earlier age and get the families thinking," said Arseneault.

"That's going to come with time.  It's going to take two or three years and so yeah we do expect those numbers to grow.  What we have this year is a really good start to a great program."