Although students can usually be found stumbling half-dead during midterms, this weekend, they made like zombies for a
different cause.
A handful of College of New Caledonia students and walking dead enthusiasts took to the streets Saturday afternoon in their best zombie regalia of tattered clothes and dripping blood to protest the rising cost of post-secondary tuition.
This is the second year the school's student union has organized a Land of the Living Debt zombie walk as a part of the Canadian Federation of Students' (CFS) Education Shouldn't Be A Debt Sentence campaign.
"It is an effective tool. Education fees are way too high for a lot of students," said Randie Cross, external affairs co-ordinator for the CNC Students' Union.
"A lot of students are suffering and they don't even have enough money to feed themselves while they're going to school because tuition is so high."
The cost of tuition is also a burden for students with families and young children who have to think about daycare costs as well, Cross said.
Cross said the student feedback about the event has been very positive
"A lot of them enjoy doing it because it's a fun, creative way to take a stand for what they believe in and what should be a right for the students going to school here."
The CFS cites Statistics Canada figures showing the average tuition fees for Canadian full-time undergraduate students in 1991-92 was $1,714.
That average has risen to $5,366 in 2011-12.
"So you can tell the inflation on that is huge," Cross said, "and that's why we push to reduce the tuition fees."
The campaign calls on the B.C. government to reinstate an up-front student grants program, fully fund a tuition fee reduction to 2001 levels, restore per-student core funding to 2001 levels and eliminate the interest charged on student loans.
Lacey Huxter is in a science university transfer program at CNC and participated in the walk even though she said she's not in trouble financially right now.
"I do have to save up a lot of money to get into medical school," she said.
"But I'm thinking about the students who have to work a lot to pay for next year."
Huxter was intrigued by the zombie theme.
"I think it's really cool. It's just a chance to get out the weekend before Halloween and do something crazy, while all the time making a point."
