B.C.'s advanced education minister came under fire Wednesday for what protesters called her "shameful" remarks about mounting student debt levels.

Naomi Yamomoto was quoted in the Times Colonist saying that she has no plans to lower interest rates on student loans and is unconvinced that such a move would allow more people to get a post-secondary education.

"If you go to a campus and talk to students, that's not what they are talking about," she said.

She also stressed the value of students paying for their own schooling. "I think it's good to have some skin in the game and then there's an incentive to actually finish a program," she said.

The comments drew boos and shouts of "shame" when read out at a Student Day of Action at Camosun College.

Madeline Keller-MacLeod, external executive of the college's student society, called Yamamoto's comments an "insult" to all those who leave post-secondary institutions with crushing debts.

"People are at school because they know it's going to give them a better life and I don't think people need any other incentive," she said. "There are people who are at Camosun right now who are in poverty that are trying to get out of poverty, and those are the people that are on student loans and that are paying interest rates on those loans."

An average B.C. university student graduates with a $27,000 debt from provincial and federal loans, the Canadian Federation of Students says. Last year, B.C.'s major universities recommended that the government reduce its current interest rate of prime plus 2.5 per cent to remain competitive with other provinces.

NDP advanced education critic Michelle Mungall said it is an "allout fallacy" for Yamamoto to suggest that no one on campus is talking about debt and interest rates

Mungall says she visits the same schools as Yamamoto and repeatedly hears complaints about the fact that B.C. has one of the highest interest rates on student loans in the country.

"For her to say that nobody's talking about that . . . she's either completely out of touch or she's purposely ignoring the message that students, their instructors and their administration is saying," she said.

Mungall and NDP leader Adrian Dix attended a protest Wednesday at the University of British Columbia Okanagan in Kelowna, where they urged the B.C. Liberals to restore a student grant program that they eliminated in 2005.

Dix said in a telephone interview that the Liberal government's rising fees are making it harder for young people trying to get a post-secondary education. He said a generation of people, including himself and Premier Christy Clark, were able to go to college and university for only hundreds of dollars in tuition, compared with the tens of thousands racked up by students today. "What we're seeing is generationally unfair and not in the best interests of the economy," said Dix

The NDP has proposed restoring $100 million in non-refundable student grants. Dix also pledged to scrap interest rate payments on student loans during his campaign to become NDP leader last year.

"Essentially, we're making money on the student loan system with the most vulnerable of students," said Dix. "I don't think there's justification for that."

lkines@timescolonist.com rshaw@timescolonist.com