Thousands of N.S. post-secondary students will get $550 to cope with inflation
One-time payment will be made automatically to around 11,000 students in January, province says
The government of Nova Scotia says thousands of post-secondary students who rely on financial assistance from the province will get a one-time payment of $550 to help them deal with higher prices.
The grant, announced on Tuesday, is expected to cost the province $6.2 million and will benefit some 11,000 students. It does not have to be repaid.
"We know the rising cost of living is affecting students, and we're looking at ways we can help so they can focus on their studies and future," Minister of Advanced Education Brian Wong said in a news release.
There is no application process. Instead, the payments will be automatically deposited into the accounts of students who are deemed "most eligible" in January, the news release said.
Recipients must live in the province, must be receiving student assistance from the government of Nova Scotia during the current academic year, and must be attending either a university, Nova Scotia Community College or a private career college.
"As affordability pressures continue to grow, students are increasingly struggling to balance the rising costs of education, housing, groceries and transportation," Kyle Cook, chair of Students Nova Scotia, said in the release.
Nova Scotia has been seeing decades-high inflation for months, like the rest of the country. The consumer price index, which measures the cost of average household spending, was up 7.7 per cent in September compared to a year earlier, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada.
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