StudentsNS campaign advocates for increased financial student assistance

When Violet Caswell’s student loans were delayed, she suddenly had to decide between feeding herself or her cats. 

“We’ve had financial strain before … but it was never quite so bad as to having to spend literally our last few dollars and cents on a bag of cat food.” 

Caswell, a fourth-year music student at Dalhousie University, says that though her loans were finally sent through, she’s still struggling to afford healthy food and necessary medicine, despite having a part-time job, a wife who works full time and two other housemates.

“Anything helps,” says Caswell. “God knows being a university student is not an easy game, and the financial part of it is even harder.” 

Provincial loans for students in Nova Scotia are capped at $200 per week, and students are only allowed to earn $100 per week from part-time work before their maximum loans decrease. Brendan Roberts, executive director of Students Nova Scotia, a non-profit advocacy group for post-secondary students, says these amounts are not enough for students. 

“We have this system right now that’s essentially broken because students aren’t being given enough money to fund their studies,” says Roberts. “They’re also not being allowed to work enough to fund the studies themselves.”

StudentsNS recently finished a two-week campaign called “Fund Our Future,” advocating for an increase in maximum aid for students from $200 per week to $300 per week and a rise in the maximum weekly employment earnings cap to $300 per week, up from $100 per week.

“Financial aid must keep pace with the real costs students face,” said Rebecca Seymour, the board chair of StudentsNS, in a statement announcing the campaign on Oct. 27. 

StudentsNS is the largest student advocacy group in the province, representing over 20,000 students from Saint Mary’s University, Cape Breton University, St. Francis Xavier University and Acadia University. 

The Dalhousie Student Union was a founding member of the group, but disaffiliated in 2015 due to financial concerns, low engagement with the organizations and differences in policy beliefs.

The campaign held events at four of the advocacy group’s member schools, but largely focused on raising awareness among the public and provincial government. 

“[Students] know what the issues are,” says Roberts. “But we’re really trying to make sure that folks in government, who have the power to make changes to these issues, are also listening and being informed on this.”

Amie Haughn is the executive director of the service delivery and operations branch of advanced education, which oversees Nova Scotia Student Assistance — the provincial program that manages student loans.

Haughn says Nova Scotia Student Assistance did not have a “direct response” to the campaign’s message that students aren’t receiving sustainable funding. 

Maximum student loan amounts from the provincial government have remained stagnant since 2013, with the exception of a $20 increase in 2017. Maximum study period earnings have not increased since 2011. Roberts says these rates are “clearly outdated and obviously can’t support the cost of living.” 

Currently, Nova Scotia’s average domestic undergraduate tuition is $9,988, the highest in Canada. 

Consumer prices in Nova Scotia increased 32.4 per cent between September 2013 and September 2025, according to Statistics Canada. The average cost of tuition for domestic undergraduate students in the province increased 60.7 per cent since the 2013-14 academic year, the second-highest increase in Canada, only behind New Brunswick.

Haughn was unable to provide the Dalhousie Gazette with the number of years since the student loan rates have been updated, or an explanation for how the current maximums were chosen.

Haughn says Nova Scotia Student Assistance recognizes that current student aid rates “don’t always fulfill 100 per cent of the need.” 

“Student assistance was always meant to contribute to the students’ funding for their education and is not necessarily the only source that people need to bring to the table.”

Haughn says changes, such as matching a new federal calculation for the shelter portion of the living allowance and the provincial tuition freeze for the current school year and next, are part of the loan agency’s solutions to help students and graduates with affordability.

StudentsNS started their annual “Advocacy Week” on Nov. 9, where they brought recommendations to elected representatives and other government and private organizations. 

“We review [StudentsNS’] recommendations and we will … take [advocacy week] as an opportunity to review those recommendations again,” says Haughn. “It’s a part of our ongoing work that we do that with post-secondary education and attempting to make it more accessible and affordable.”

Roberts hopes the public awareness from the “Fund Our Future” campaign will lead to positive change on student issues, which he says are often “swept under the rug.” 

Haughn says increasing the maximum aid students can receive and the number of hours they can work begins with advocacy. She says her department will meet with StudentsNS during their advocacy week. 

“We’re looking forward to those dialogues with them,” she says.