It’s the story of a heroine who would prefer not to be one and wonders how a single parent who returns to school can make ends meet without falling into combat.
This is the story of Rosalie Lavoie, a 46-year-old single mother and student, who, during the pandemic, felt the need to radically change her life.
After studying literature, writing books and working in the world of publishing, notably as managing editor of the magazine FreedomRosalie decided to return to school full-time to become a paramedic.
By making this big shift, she wanted first and foremost to feel more useful.
“I couldn’t stand being in front of my computer anymore. I needed to fit into the world in a more concrete way. »
It’s hard to find anything more concrete than boarding an ambulance to provide emergency care to citizens in distress.
What is unfortunately just as concrete for the mother who studies full time and works part time is the great precariousness into which her return to CEGEP plunges her – a return which, ironically, also aimed to get her out precariousness.
The financial aid she receives as a student is only $3,300 in loans and $120 in scholarships. While her rent in Montreal alone eats up half of her income, she struggles to get by and experiences chronic financial stress. To make ends meet, she worked two jobs this summer and continues to work part-time in a restaurant during the school year. Without family allowances, it would be downright mission impossible.
As she studies in a health field with a labor shortage, she could also have expected to benefit from the Perspective Québec scholarship program, aimed in particular at increasing the number of qualified people in essential public services. But strangely, even though there is nothing more essential than an EMT, emergency pre-hospital care is not on the list of eligible programs.
Add to this the fact that Rosalie’s training includes a 300-hour internship (with a minimum of 30 hours per week), which remains unpaid, although it is real, very demanding work that relieves a overworked health network.
While she is in the final year of a very stressful three-year technical training course, Rosalie feels exhausted. Not a day goes by without her wondering if she’s going to make it.
In these conditions, it takes more than just wanting to become a paramedic. I’m starting to think that maybe you actually have to be crazy to do what I’m doing…
Rosalie Lavoie
The difficulty in accessing studies for mothers who are heads of single-parent families is not exactly a new phenomenon. Sylvie Lévesque has seen a lot of Rosalies out of breath over the years. General Director of the Federation of Associations of Single-Parent and Recomposed Families of Quebec, she has been fighting for 30 years for true equal access to studies for student parents.
Some battles were won after many years of struggle. But others remain more relevant than ever.
In 2003, Sylvie Lévesque denounced the fact that the loan and scholarship program, designed a priori for young people in initial training, was poorly adapted to the reality of student parents. “In some cases, the aid granted is not enough to cover their real expenses, sometimes even being lower than the amounts granted by income security (social assistance),” she observed.
This is unfortunately still true today.
There have been some improvements. But it is clearly insufficient. Especially today, with the housing crisis, inflation, the cost of food, the lack of daycare… With all that in the background, you really have to be a heroine to get through your study program when We are a single parent.
Sylvie Lévesque, general director of the Federation of Single-Parent and Blended Family Associations of Quebec
At UQAM, Annie Noël de Tilly, coordinator of the Support Committee for Student Parents, sees these heroic and indebted parents knocking at her door who are finding it increasingly difficult to provide for their needs. “The demand for food assistance and other services that we offer is really increasing. »
To reduce the debt of student parents and prevent dropouts, it goes without saying that better support from the State is necessary. Quebec committed in the last budget to investing $140 million per year to better financially support students, particularly those with dependent children. But for many mothers like Rosalie, who study in areas where the needs are dire, this is not enough.
How is it that the work of future paramedics is not considered “essential” enough to qualify for Perspective Québec scholarships?
In the office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry, they explain to me that the criterion of labor shortage is not the only one considered to draw up the list of eligible programs. The recruitment deficit in certain programs is also part of the evaluation criteria, says Simon Savignac, press secretary to the minister.
“Are we going to add certain programs? It is too early to tell. »
As for the remuneration of interns in the public sector, Minister Pascale Déry is committed to following up on the demands of education and health students who have been fighting since 2016 for real remuneration for their work in fields with a clear female predominance.1.
When ? We don’t know yet.
Will pre-hospital emergency care trainees be part of the mix? We don’t know that either. We are still “analyzing different scenarios”.
Hoping that the chosen scenario no longer confines student mothers to the role of eternal heroines which they do not want.