A new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), suggests tuition costs are expected to rise by at least 13 per cent over the next four years for Canadian undergraduate students.
Erika Shaker, co-author of the study and the director of the CCPA’s education project said in a press release the intent of the paper was to track what provincial governments are doing to make higher education more affordable for families of modest means.
“Average tuition and compulsory fees in Canada have tripled since 1990, even after inflation is taken into account . . . No wonder there is growing public concern over student debt loans, economic and employment uncertainty, and the long-term ramifications being felt by students and their families.”
The CCPA used its “Cost of Learning Index” to measure affordability of education, weighing increases in tuition against the rise of income for the average family.
According to their index, university education is most affordable in Newfoundland and Quebec, and least affordable in Nova Scotia and Ontario.
The report also suggests getting a university degree is necessary to keep pace with jobs in the current economy, and quotes federal government estimates that indicate 75 per cent of new jobs in the coming decade will require post-secondary education.
The study’s findings demonstrate most provinces have opted not to keep costs low, but rather turn to programs that offer students loans on favourable terms, or easy repayment options.
But Shaker said this is problematic because 60 per cent of undergraduate students go into the working world with an average debt of $27,000.
Emily Hedges, press secretary for the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, said she was skeptical of the report’s findings.
“Using Statistics Canada data on tuition for interprovincial comparisons of tuition levels can be problematic,” Hedges said.
“Statistics Canada includes fees from all types of undergraduate programs, including professional programs such as medicine, law and dentistry, which are not available in all provinces,” she said. “Including these programs increases the undergraduate tuition average for Ontario, when compared to some other provinces who do not offer these high-demand professional programs.”
Hedges said the Ontario government is helping to cover the costs of higher education, having increased funding to post-secondary institutions by $2.2 billion in the past 10 years.
“In the coming year, tuition increases will be limited to a maximum of three per cent for most students in our colleges and universities,” Hedges said. “Some professional and high demand programs could see increases of up to five per cent, which is lower than the eight per cent maximum allowed under the previous policy.”
Alastair Woods, chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario, said this study points to further erosion of university affordability.
“Students have been sounding the alarm about how high fees are pricing them out of a university education in Ontario,” he said.
“This report confirms that even when the Ontario tuition grant is taken into account, the Liberal government’s policy of year-over-year tuition fee increase has eroded the affordability of university education in Ontario.”
