Stephen Harper expands eligibility for Canada Student Grants program
Training programs less than 60 weeks will now be eligible for government help
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a change to the Canada Student Grants program Tuesday, which will expand the number of training programs eligible for government help.
Until now, post-secondary training programs had to be longer than 60 weeks to qualify for the grant program, which was started in 2009, Harper said at a press conference in North Vancouver.
Harper called the cutoff arbitrary.
"That leaves out an increasing number of training courses that, while shorter, still prepare a student for a job that's available now," he said.
The program will be expanded to include post-secondary programs longer than 34 weeks, such as training in home inspection, networking, accounting techniques, or to become a paralegal, said Harper.
He said he expected the change would help tens of thousands of Canadians find well-paying jobs.
Corrections
- A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the new eligibility requirements for the Canada Student Grants program. In fact, programs must be 34 weeks long.Apr 07, 2015 4:48 PM EDT