The president and CEO of the Fédération des cégeps, Bernard Tremblay, is concerned to see that many students have to work to make ends meet, at a time when inflation is creating strong “financial anxiety” among them to the point of undermine “their ability to succeed” in their college studies. He is therefore calling for an increase in the loans and scholarships offered by Quebec to alleviate this burden.
At the dawn of his retirement, scheduled for next month, Mr. Tremblay gave an in-depth interview to Duty to look back on the progress made since his arrival at the head of the Fédération des cégeps in 2015, and address the many challenges that will await his successor, Marie Montpetit, who will take office on July 2.
The Quebec government predicts that by 2032, the number of students in the entire college network will increase by 14.4%, compared to 10 years earlier, to exceed 196,000. Bernard Tremblay, however, fears that this growing curve is hampered by the lack of funds available for the renovation and expansion of the aging infrastructures of the province’s CEGEPs, but also by the growing attraction that the working environment represents for students, at a time when the cost of life increases.
“We see strong financial anxiety, because inflation affects students, and it is clear that it affects their ability to succeed in CEGEP,” notes Mr. Tremblay. “Loans and scholarships, for a young person who is not supported by his family or who has financial issues because he does not live at home with his parents, it is clear that that is not enough. He has to work,” he continues. However, college studies are “very demanding”, which sometimes places students with limited financial resources faced with difficult choices, worries the 58-year-old manager.
In “competition” with the job market
The trained lawyer thus notes that, more than ever, CEGEPs find themselves “in very marked competition with the job market”, especially since the pandemic has pushed several companies to increase the salaries offered for different types jobs that require few prerequisites.
“It sure is very attractive. On the other hand, studies have been unanimous for a long time on the fact that when there is a crisis, who is left behind? These are the people without a diploma,” says Bernard Tremblay, who also recalls that it is the workers who have not continued their studies beyond secondary school who “have suffered the most” from the pandemic.
In this context, “it takes a strong message from the State,” underlines Mr. Tremblay, who pleads for an increase in the amounts granted by the Quebec government as part of its financial aid program for studies, whose criteria admissions are also criticized by several student associations.
Because if the State does not succeed in making college studies more attractive, the productivity of the Quebec economy will suffer, Mr. Tremblay foresees, with a lively gaze. “We can no longer be content with our collective ambition being limited to obtaining a secondary 5 diploma in Quebec,” says the outgoing CEO, according to whom “90% of new jobs in the coming years will require college or higher education.
Mr. Tremblay also says he is concerned by the fact that the Action Plan for Success in Higher Education, launched in 2021, currently only has a five-year vision. Improving the graduation rate of students in the college network will, however, take more time and investments that will have to be maintained, estimates Mr. Tremblay, who raises eyebrows when he notes that the amounts provided for this purpose have already started “to decrease” for two years.
Quebec has planned to invest a total of $175 million by 2026 in the college network as part of this action plan, which is in addition to another dedicated to improving the mental health of CEGEP and university students in Province.