The announcement of this year’s provincial budget has left some post-secondary students unimpressed.

“This budget is a testament of this government’s contempt for students,” says Michaela Sam, chairperson of the Nova Scotia division of the Canadian Federation of Students.

“Ultimately, there is no new spending in this budget for students and this government has done nothing to alleviate $37,000 worth of student debt that students in this province find themselves in.”

Minister of Finance Randy Delorey said during the announcement that they are focusing more on helping graduating students find jobs, allotting $1.6 million in their Graduate to Opportunity Program.

But Sam says that doesn’t do any good if people can’t afford to go to school.

“The way to provide good jobs to students is to ensure they’re able to pursue their post-secondary degrees,” she says.

“Unfortunately, that is becoming less and less a reality because Nova Scotia has the fastest raising tuition fees compared to anywhere else in this country,” Sam explained. “We are the only province with tuition fee deregulation and no set regulations on how tuition fees are increased.”

With New Brunswick and Ontario’s recent decisions to cut tuition fees for low-income families, Nova Scotian students were hoping the province would follow suit.

Nick Head-Petersen, executive director of Students Nova Scotia, told NEWS 95.7 he’s disappointed in the budget as well.

“We saw student assistance ignored, we saw underrepresented communities and their participation in post-secondary education ignored, and the health of our international students in terms of providing MSI coverage was also ignored,” he said.

He says he’s happy with the investment to create jobs, but is unhappy with the lack of student support in general.