Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto's Feb. 1 letter "Taxpayers support post-secondaries" seems to state that we shouldn't be worried about the state of post-secondary education in B.C. I wholeheartedly disagree.

At the University of Victoria, tuition has gone up by 125 per cent under the B.C. Liberal government while the consumer price index has gone up by 17. Core funding has been frozen since 2009 and will be for the foreseeable future, forcing cuts to post-secondary programs. Nearly every institution in the province faces budget shortfalls. At some schools, this means entire programs are on the chopping block.

B.C. is the only province in the country without a grants program and we have the highest rate of interest on student loans. On top of that, the amount of student aid in the province has been repeatedly slashed. It is no surprise B.C. students graduate with the highest level of debt outside of the Maritimes.

Maintaining accessible and quality post-secondary education is the key to economic success. Yamamoto has stated that 75 per cent of the new jobs in the next 10 years will require post-secondary education.

It is time to stop playing politics with our future and to fund education properly.

James Coccola

Victoria