Rural and Northern Students /

The Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development should be the lead ministry on rural and northern student affairs, wherein a secretariat should be established to collect data and inform policy on the specific social and financial barriers facing university persistence of students from rural and northern communities. [...] The current Ontario Distance Grant - Commuting and Ontario Distance Grant – Travel should be rebranded to the Rural and Northern Commuting Grant and the Rural and Northern Travel Grant respectively. [...] At present, there are four distinct ministries overseeing these populations: the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines.17 None of these ministries are responsible for addressing the post- secondary experience of rural and northern On [...] Properly facilitated outreach to rural and northern students has the ability to drastically change their post- secondary participation and persistence in Ontario, and as such, should become a priority to the province of Ontario. [...] On average, the cost of shelter alone in Ontario has risen over 8.2% since 2011.19 The proposed changes to the Ontario Distance Grant - Travel (restructuring it to become the Rural and Northern Travel Grant) have the ability to help offset the costs for the majority of rural and 18 Eric Marr, “Assessing Transportation Disadvantage in Rural Ontario, Canada: A Case Study of Huron County” (MSc.