Ontario Liberal plan to get people into charities and non-profits

This is a great policy –– charities can never match salaries or benefits of private sector -– but once someone has the "taste" of charities and non-profits, even if they don't continue to work in the field, they will continue to volunteer. Let's see if the other Parties make similar proposals:


Today, Ontario Liberals took the next step in our plan for post secondary education and moved to help Ontario graduates who take their first job in the not-for-profit sector by providing a one-year grace period for paying back their student loans. Here's what you need to know:

• Graduates who work in the non-profit or charity sectors can find it tough to get on their feet in the first year.

• Ontario Liberals would ensure that those who go on to work for non-profit and non-governmental organizations — such as registered charities — will not be required to begin payments for one year on loans under the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP).

• This is double the current grace period of six month, available to all OSAP recipients and with no interest applying in this period. The purpose of both the current and the new extended not-for-profit grace period is to give students a break after graduation when they are entering the job market.

• In Ontario, 85 per cent of college grads and 94 per cent of university grads are employed within six months after graduating.

• This new plan was developed by the Ontario Young Liberals Association — and is part of the Ontario Liberal plan to move Ontario forward. The opposition has no program for education — the NDP platform barely talks about post-secondary students and PCs have a $14 billion hole in their platform that would mean catastrophic cuts to post-secondary education.