St. Clair College students have mixed feelings about strike relief fund

Ontario's Ministry of Education released details of its Student Strike Relief Fund Thursday following the five-week work stoppage by college faculty.

• 'I'm so excited and happy': St. Clair College students back in class after 5-week strike

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Full-time domestic or international students who remained enrolled in their program, but have encountered unexpected expenses because of the strike, are able to apply for up to $500 to cover a variety of costs including childcare, travel and living expenses.

Apprentices completing their in-school training are also eligible to apply for the fund and students who decide to withdraw from college because of the strike will receive a full tuition refund.

CBC News spoke with students at St. Clair College about the fund and whether they feel $500 is enough to cover what they lost during the longest college strike in Ontario's history.

Angelica Haggert

Haggart relies on a work-study program through the school to help pay for her education and worries thewages she missed out on during the strike won't be covered by the fund.

"I lost about $800 in income from work-study jobs and there's no way to make that up," said the post-grad media studies student."That's super frustrating and very disheartening and I feel like I've been forgotten by the Ministry of Education."

• St. Clair College shortens holiday break in response to staff strike

Many people are also upset the semester will now stretch into the holidays to make up for lost time, Haggart added.

"There are all kinds of factors taking place that might not have a financial consequence and those aren'tbeing taken into account."

Anthony Farandatos

Farandatossaid the fund is "better than nothing" but he doesn't think it will cover costs for students who didn't manage to find work during the strike.

• St. Clair 'not watering down' education as colleges prepare to make up for strike time

"500 bucks? That's not enough at all."

Amanda Dempster

Dempstersaid she believes the eligibility requirementsto apply for the fund are fair some students are just happy they're getting something.

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"I feel that any money we're getting back for the time we missed is good, but unfortunately they can't give us back the time we've missed."