After a year marked by post-secondary fee hikes and the looming threat of additional tuition increases, 2011 will be an important year for students in the ongoing fight over fees.
This year could be particularly significant for students from Ontario, with an upcoming provincial election and the possibility of a federal one, according to Canadian Federation of Students’ (CFS) Ontario chair Sandy Hudson.
Ontario post-secondary students, who are already shelling out for some of the country’s highest fees, were hit with an additional tuition increase in 2010, while Quebec students face the possibility of new fee hikes in 2011.
With the National Union of Students (NUS) also rallying students across the U.K. to fight funding cuts and tuition increases, Hudson said one of CFS’ primary goals for 2011 will be uniting students across the globe.
“We need to ensure that we unite with students all over Ontario, Canada and the world over who are being faced with these challenges and learn from our collective victories,” she said.
Hudson said 2010 saw the success of student mobilization, but students won’t stop there. “We have seen that student mobilization from Newfoundland to Germany have been able to resist measures that seek to limit access to post-secondary education,” she said.
“The federation is calling for all funding for back-end grants [grants issued after studies have been completed] and tax credit benefits to be redirected,” Hudson said.
She said CFS wants the government to put the money into up-front grants, a boost in existing grants and a longer interest-free period on OSAP loans, among other things.
Current full-time undergraduate students in Canada paid four per cent more for the 2010/2011 year than in 2009/2010, according to Statistics Canada.
Fees in 2009/2010 were already 3.6 per cent higher than the previous year.
Quebec, which has continued to maintain one of the lowest tuition fees in the country, according to Statistics Canada, is facing similar hikes if proposed tuition increases are approved in the 2011 budget, said Louis-Philippe Savoie, president of the Fédération étudiant universitaire du Québec (FEUQ). He said FEUQ would be fighting to stop fee increases in 2011.
Savoie said the organization’s Dec. 6 protest in Quebec City was evidence of their success in 2010. “It was very horrible weather, yet 3000 students showed up,” he said. “This is a very encouraging sign. I believe students want to send a very clear message to the government: this [increase] will not pass.”
The fee hikes have hit students hard, Hudson said. Savoie agreed, saying even though tuition increases in Quebec have yet to be approved, any increases would be extremely detrimental to students.
He pointed to a study FEUQ released in November 2009, saying it revealed that students were already in a very “precarious” financial position.
He said if the increases are approved it would lead to “massive student debt and in other cases it leads to student starting to shorten or abandon their programs because they simply don’t have the cash to complete it.”
Hudson said that’s already an issue in Ontario.
“I've spoken to more and more students all over Ontario who are being forced to end their studies due to their financial situation,” she said.
Making education an election issue in Ontario, and nationwide if a federal election occurs, will be key to helping address the issue, Hudson said.
“Education must be a major election issue if we are to improve quality and access in the coming years and improve the health of our society as a whole,” she said.