Full-time undergraduate students paid an average of 3.3 per cent more in tuition fees for the 2013-14 academic year than last year, according to Statistics Canada.
On average, undergraduate students paid $5,772 this year, $186 more than they did in 2012-13. This rise in tuition prices has left Ontario and Saskatchewan students paying the most for their education, with average total fees of $7,259 and $6,394 per student respectively, Statistics Canada reported.
The tuition hikes did not affect students in every province as universities in Alberta froze their tuition rates this year, while the same has been true in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2003-04, according to Statistics Canada.
The Newfoundland government has also introduced programs to eliminate interest on student loans and allow students to receive non-repayable grants. These measures have left the average cost of tuition in Newfoundland at $2,644, well under half of what undergraduate students in Ontario are currently paying.
Jessica McCormick, national chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students, said this disparity is a direct result of the lack of government funding that many post-secondary institutions receive.
McCormick said the Newfoundland government has successfully pursued a “no barriers” approach to keep tuition fees low and said the federal government needs to play a larger role in the process of setting tuition rates.
“The federal government must adopt a national strategy that ensures that the federal dollars allocated to post-secondary institutions are correctly utilized by the authorities in each province, in order to keep the up-front costs of tuition low,” she said.
Jonathan Champagne, national director of the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, agreed.
He said federal dollars intended for post-secondary institutions are currently given to the provinces as part of a larger bundle called the Canada Social Transfer.
In order to use this money more efficiently, Champagne said the federal government must “increase the amount of dedicated [monetary] transfers” to provincial governments.
He said this would ensure that these funds are dedicated to reaching post-secondary institutions in order to lower tuition rates.
Champagne also said he believes provincial governments must increase the amount of money going towards both grants and loans so that post-secondary institutions can be made more accessible.
