McGill University’s MBA program plans to charge nearly $30,000 in tuition this September, despite the Quebec government’s threat to slash the school's funding if it goes ahead with the new model.

According to Peter Todd, dean of McGill’s Desautels Faculty of Management, the new“self-funded model” would push tuition for McGill MBA students to $29,500 for fall 2010, up from the $1,700 Quebec students in the program currently pay.

McGill’s MBA program costs much more to run than what the program currently receives from the provincial government and tuition, Todd said in an email. He said the program’s high costs have forced the school to pull funding from other programs.

“It simply isn’t fair to ask students in arts or social work to make do with fewer resources to effectively subsidize MBA students,” Todd said.

Michelle Courchesne, Quebec's minister of education, recently sent notice to McGill saying the province will pull out nearly $30,000 in funding for each MBA student if McGill stays its course.

Courchesne told the Globe and Mail she believes it is the government’s responsibility to ensure tuition levels and quality of education are comparable across the province.

A group of Quebec CEOs have recently signed an open letter denouncing Courchesne’s response to McGill, warning the province cannot build its future if it asks its universities “to choose between excellence and access.”

Likewise, the McGill Desautels MBA Student Association(MBASA) released a press release in April endorsing the faculty’s decision.

Student association president David O’Brien said he thinks McGill’s proposed model is necessary to keep its MBA program competitive.

“If [McGill] doesn’t do this, I don’t see how Quebec could maintain a world-class MBA program. . . . I think it’s the only way they can keep up with the times,” O’Brien said.

McGill’s MBA program ranked 95th in the world and was the sixth-ranked Canadian program in this year’s Financial Times list of top global MBA programs. Compared to other MBA programs worldwide, O’Brien said McGill’s current low tuition levels are “an anomaly.”

“I paid more for my [undergraduate] degree. It doesn’t really equate,” he said.

However, not all graduate students agree with the MBA tuition hike.

McGill Post-Graduate Students' Society President Daniel Simeone said the group is against the self-funding model.

“We understand universities need more money, but trying to get money this way is the wrong way to go about it,” Simeone said.