Ontario minister of training, colleges, and universities Brad Duguid met with student representatives to discuss tuition fees and improving the quality of Ontario schools at the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario (CFS-O) annual general meeting.
Duguid met with more than 100 representatives from 30 student unions across Ontario for about an hour Aug. 15, where many students made their case for lowering tuition and heard the minister’s future plans for post-secondary education.
“The overarching focus was broader discussions about the campaign for accessible, public, and affordable education in the province,” CFS-O chairperson Alastair Woods said.
In March 2013, the Ontario government announced a tuition fee cap of three per cent increases per year at post-secondary institutions.
But Woods said this updated policy is no major improvement.
“To be honest I believe that the new framework is continuing more of the same,” he said. “Even though students will see their tuition fees rise at a lesser rate than in prior years, the bigger picture remains unchanged.”
At the time Duguid said the policy “strikes a balance” between quality and affordability.
“We are increasing fairness and affordability for students and their families while providing institutions with the long-term financial stability needed to provide a high-quality education for our students,” he said in March. “We will also continue to ensure that students have access to higher education based on ability to learn, not ability to pay.”
Woods said the government has not done enough to make tuition fees more affordable due to a lack of commitment of any new funding to the post-secondary education sector.
“Inevitably all institutions are actually going to see a net loss in funding this year, so there will be, I imagine, a lot of institutions that will have to make very difficult decisions locally about budget cuts. . . in light of the fact that there is no new funding and the fee increase is much lower,” he said.
Woods said many institutions are now trying to make up for lost revenue through ancillary fees as a result, a topic which was discussed with Duguid. Other questions Duguid answered dealt with campus food services and OHIP coverage for international students.
Woods said the meeting left him and other representatives feeling optimistic.
“I think that we’re entering a really unique semester, a unique year, to actually effect some change,” he said. “I mean, we still have a minority government, so there’s a little bit of leverage that we have there.”
