• Student-based Funding through the PSSSP

Colleges and institutes confirmed that Aboriginal students who are seeking to enroll or are currently attending their institutions continually face challenges accessing sufficient funding. First Nations Bands are not resourced adequately through the Post-secondary Student Support Program (PSSSP) to provide adequate funding to students, and as tuitions and the cost of living increase the number of students bands can sponsor diminishes. As indicated earlier in this report, the PSSSP has limited resources because funding has not increased since 1989, and the funding level is not adequate to cover students’ costs. This in turn impacts upon colleges’ and institutes’ capacity to delivery Aboriginal programs:

• For example, Camosun College has developed a number of First Nations programs and reserved a number of seats for First Nations students in many programs that have exceedingly long waiting lists (up to three years). However, often the financial support does not meet student demand, the spaces cannot be filled with Aboriginal students and programs do not run at full capacity resulting in a waste of resources on all sides.
• The Aboriginal Institutes Consortium also confirmed that the insufficient funds transferred to First Nations Bands by the PSSSP are limiting Aboriginal students’ access to post-secondary education. Students coming to Aboriginal Institutes for programs and are told they have to pay tuition. These students then go to their First Nations Band for tuition funding but find out that there is no more funding available. The impact on Aboriginal institutions is that students want to enroll in programs but cannot attend due to the lack of funding support.
• SIIT emphasized that student funding is not sufficient to cover tuition and living allowances. This makes access to college/institute programs a challenge. The current funding can help people pay the tuition but most often the challenge for students is the living allowance. For example, a student coming to SIIT to become an A1 Driver may be able to afford the $3,000 tuition for the 3 month course, but the real challenge is how he or she will pay to live while completing the program.

• Aboriginal-controlled Institutions face Specific Funding Challenges

In some provinces, such as Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta, Aboriginal-controlled institutions typically must partner with mainstream institutions for the credentialing of their programs. Although the Aboriginal institutes deliver the programs they do not receive any operating grant from the provinces nor are they transferred funds from mainstream institutions’ tuition revenue for those Aboriginal students. This severely limits the funding sources for Aboriginal institutes. Currently these institutes are funded through provincial and federal government program funding. For example, Ontario Aboriginal-controlled institutions can apply for year to year grants from the province from an $800,000 per year fund divided between the 8 institutions. Ontario colleges, institutes and Aboriginal-controlled institutions can also access $3.5 million per year from the INCA Indian Studies Support Program (ISSP) for the development of Aboriginal programs and services. However under this program Aboriginal-controlled institutions are required to partner with mainstream institutions for the credentialing of the programs, and mainstream institutions are also eligible to apply for funding under this federal program. This year to year funding structure puts serious limits on the type of programming Aboriginal Institutes can offer, in particular for certificate and diploma programs which require more than one year of study.