Grants and loan remissions are not taken into account when assessing the costs of post-secondary tuition, according to Reza Moridi, MPP for Richmond Hill.
Ontario students do not pay as much for university as students in other provinces, despite having the highest tuition fees in Canada, according to Ontario’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) listed Ontario as the province with the highest tuition fees in Canada, in a report published last week.
Full-time undergraduate students pay an average of $8,474 a year in Ontario, the report said.
“What’s important to think about is net tuition, which takes into account student assistance programs that touch essentially every student, not gross tuition,” said ministry spokesperson Zak Paget.
He said the CCPA study does not include some of the benefits Ontario students receive to help cover the cost of tuition.
“The 30 per cent off Ontario Tuition grant for students in a university or college degree program is $1,780 on tuition, while recipients in a diploma or certificate program will save $820,” he said.
A study published in August by research firm Higher Education Strategy Associates said Ontario students pay the highest sticker price, but they often end up paying less than their peers in other provinces once loan remissions and tax breaks are assessed.
The study created 10 different profiles of students with different incomes, majors, and marital statuses and examined the approximate cost of their tuition if they applied for the same program in each province, said lead author Alex Usher.
“One thing with tax credits [is that] everyone gets the same amount, but need is different. So you want to be able to actually show what is happening to real individual students, which is why we created 10 model students,” he said. “The idea here was to acknowledge the fact that net price isn’t simple.”
According to Usher, these 10 case studies are not a representative sample of a province’s students, but do show how “a province can be generous with one type of student, but is not always generous with another type of student.”
Overall, the Ontario students from low income families getting an arts degree or a college diploma ranked cheaper, compared to other provinces.
However, other students did not benefit as well. For married students and students in high-cost programs, studying in Ontario is more expensive than other provinces, he said.
Fourth-year law and biology student Carleton student Samah Saci said even with the tuition rebate and the grants she has received through OSAP, she is about $20,000 in debt.
“The grants definitely do help, but loans still add up,” she said. “I have no idea how long it will take to pay it off.”
