"I am a mature student in the Early Childhood Education program. Since the last 8yrs, I worked in minimum wage jobs, scraping together money to go to college, and taking part-time courses. This semester I was able to quit my job and go full time, in the hopes of graduating by September 2018. When the strike happened on October 16th I felt that it would be resolved quickly. However, as the days turned into weeks. It became clear that my semester was in jeopardy. What was worse is that students were shut out of information regarding the strike, and the plans to recover from the semester. Rumors, worries, and uncertainties have clouded us. The big question is what will happen to our semester? When we go back to class how are we suppose to cram in a whole semesters worth of work? What about our placements? I know of one student with a disability that change and overload workload will set them back. How about the international students? How are students supposed to cope? How am I a student who works hard to get decent grades, has to balance family, unemployment, and school? How am I suppose to cope? I did not budget for paying for another semester. I have heard that we will not get a refund because it is provincial. Yet the government does not want to get involved. This is half a million voting students that have paid for a service...a service to learn, and will not get their education or their money back. This strike is not about the students. It's not about unions and teachers trying to improve our quality of learning. It's about money. If the whole system had any respect for students, they would have found other solutions, then going on strike. Give me my education back in a fair and reasonable way. "