The views expressed in the following text do not necessarily match the views of this site or the Government of Canada.
Tuition Fee Increases
September 2004
By: Kathleen
For several years, students have created groups to protest an increasingly real possibility in CEGEPs and universities: higher tuition fees. We will first discuss variations in tuition fees from province to province. Then, we will study the effects of fee increases on life. Although the rate of increase has slowed down over the past three years in comparison with that of the 90s, tuition fees on average continued to grow faster than inflation.
First of all, students face a new reality: higher tuition fees. We can see in the table below that Quebec at first glance appears to be the province with the lowest tuition fees.
Table 1: Comparison of tuition fees for each province
|
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Quebec |
Ontario |
Nova Scotia |
Canada |
| Tuition fees ($) |
1993-94 |
1550 |
2076 |
2701 |
2023 |
| 2003-04 |
1862 |
4923 |
5557 |
4025 |
| Variation 1993-03 (%) |
20 |
137 |
105 |
98 |
| Tuition fees as a % of total income for universities |
1991 |
7,2 |
13,3 |
14,1 |
11,3 |
| 2001 |
10,7 |
25,7 |
25,9 |
19,6 |
| 2002 |
9,2 |
25,3 |
26,2 |
19,2 |
Note: The figure for Canada is a weighted average according to the number of students in each institution and area of study.
Sources: for tuition fees, Statistics Canada: The Daily, August 20, 2003. For tuition fees as a percentage of total revenue: CANSIM data base, Table 385-0007, and author's calculations.
According to a new Statistics Canada study published last April, tuition fee increases have led to more debt load for students in recent years. Statistics Canada also notes in the study that one out of every four graduates have difficulty in reimbursing their student loans. The level of education attained seems to have a direct impact on the level of employment. Indeed, the farther students pursue higher education, the greater the drop in unemployment in this category.
Secondly, according to the Montreal Economic Institute, not allowing tuition fee increases in response to need could considerably endanger the quality of higher education in Quebec, without creating any advantage for economically disadvantaged students. The lack of financial assistance is the first reason students give for dropping out, especially those from low-income families. According to a study by the Canada Millenium Scholarship Foundation published on September 16, "access to post-secondary education is still uneven. However, contrary to general belief, constant tuition fee increases and increased indebtedness over the past decade have not reduced general access for students to post-secondary educational institutions in Canada."
In short, a decrease in tuition fees would enable all students to have a quality education and this in turn would improve the economic situation!
The views expressed in the following text do not necessarily match the views of this site or the Government of Canada.
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