Starting in all 2019, university and college students studying in Ontario will be paying 10 per cent less than the current tuition fees, according to a report from the Canadian Press.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is expected to deliver the official announcement of the new framework on Jan. 17.
The current system has limited increases in most programs to three per cent. But, the new tuition framework implemented by the Progressive Conservatives will make the cuts effective by the 2019-2020 academic year and will freeze tuition by the following year.
However, the fate of student assistance programs and grants is yet to be determined as the provincial government plans to slash its deficit. In a recent attempt to address that deficit, the Ontario government said they will not support a francophone university in the province due to having to currently deal with a provincial deficit.
But, this 10 per cent decrease will lessen some of the financial burdens on domestic students.
Hannah Beltran, a first-year public affairs and policy management student at Carleton University, said the decrease in tuition fees would be an incentive for her to stay in school.
“Tuition is so expensive,” she said. “I will be drowning in debt when I graduate, but the cut is better than the current status.”
At Carleton, a first-year arts student pays about $7,850 in tuition fees annually. But, under the new framework, the typical arts and science student in university would be paying about $660 less, and an average college student would be paying about $340 less, according to the government.
International students will not be included in those cuts.
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