This year’s proposed federal budget contains few measures related directly to students.

In their list of pre-budget asks, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) recommended several key investments. These include an investment of $207.6 million annually through the 2027-2028 program year in the Student Work Placement Program (SWPP), which many co-op employers use to help fund wages for co-op placements.

Another key ask was to invest $1.07 billion annually into the Canada Student Grant to set maximums at $4,200 per year and maintain weekly loan maximums at $300/week.

Regarding these, the federal budget proposed providing $635.2 million to SWPP over three years beginning 2026-27 to support 55,000 “work-integrated learning opportunities” for post-secondary students in the same year. The budget also proposed limiting access to the Canada Student Grant to those attending public or not-for-profit institutions within Canada, and those attending public institutions outside of Canada, which they projected to save $1 billion over four years (though there is no mention of investing the saved money back into the Canada Student Grant).

Other key asks from CASA went unanswered including indexing awards to inflation to maintain “competitive Canadian graduate student funding.”

“While students across the country did not see the full level of investment that they deserve, they are encouraged by the important steps taken to start addressing the employment and affordability challenges that they are currently facing,” reads a press release from CASA in response to the budget. Though appreciative of the budget’s “scope of investment” and its prioritization of research funding, CASA also highlighted the budget’s lack of dedicated funding towards student housing, which was present in the Liberal government’s campaign platform.

According to the press release, CASA along with the Quebec Student Union/Union Étudiante du Québec plans to “share on-the-ground stories with parliamentarians” during Parliament Hill’s advocacy week taking place later this month.

Other proposals in the budget that may apply to students include a proposal that the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) will now be able to file taxes on behalf of “certain eligible individuals with lower incomes and simple tax situations” who don’t owe tax or file themselves. This is aimed to ensure these individuals receive benefits they are eligible for like the GST/HST credit.