REGINA — Students and seniors are the big winners in the Saskatchewan government's $7.79-billion pre-election-style budget.

The big-spending budget includes a $10,000 tax exemption for graduates of approved post-secondary institutions and extends a tuition freeze for current students. Seniors will have a little more money in their pocketbooks with the government's cap of $15 on prescription costs.

Finance Minister Andrew Thomson says the budget includes a surplus of $75 million.

But to avoid a deficit, the NDP government is using nearly $510 million from its "rainy day" savings account.

The budget could be the last one before a provincial election, since Premier Lorne Calvert's current administration is four years old this fall.

Highlights from the Saskatchewan budget tabled in the legislature Thursday:

• A $15 cap on the cost of each drug prescription for every senior in the province.
• A $10,000 tax exemption for post-secondary school graduates for the first five years after graduation.
• Continuation of a tuition freeze that began in 2004.
• Continuation of the eight per cent cut to the education portion of property tax for residential and commercial property. Cut will be deepened to 10 per cent if the federal budget passes and the province gets its equalization money.
• Funding for 3,117 additional MRI scans and 5,455 bone mineral density scans to shorten waiting lists.
• Creating a dental sealant program for students in Grades 1 to 7 at community schools.
• Social assistance increases of $10 a month for Saskatchewan Assistance Plan and Transitional Employment Allowance recipients and $5 a month increase in the personal living allowance.
• Fully funding the provincial share of the Canadian Agriculture Income Stabilization program.