Highest tuition puts Ontario dead last

TORONTO , Oct. 20 /CNW/ - Ontario university tuition is now the highest in Canada averaging $5,951 per student according to Statistics Canada's university tuition study released this morning. Universities in Ontario saw the largest increase in tuition in Canada , forcing more students to take on significant debt just to stay in school.

"Being number one in the country is nothing to be proud of when it's for the cost of an education. This is a wake-up call for the provincial government," said Dan Moulton , President of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA). "We should be number one in quality, accessibility, and affordability, not setting new records for highest tuition."

Ontario universities are in need of significant financial support, but Ontario students already pay a greater percentage of the cost of their education than their counterparts elsewhere in Canada . OUSA is calling on the provincial government to bring per-student funding up to the national average and for the federal government to take leadership on a nation-wide problem that is seeing tuition rise across the country.

The Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance stands with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, the College Student Alliance, the New Brunswick Student Alliance, the Alliance of Nova Scotia Student Associations, the Council of Alberta University Students, and the Alberta Student Executive Council, together representing over 600,000 students across the country, in asking the federal government to increase funding for post-secondary education to $4 billion per year.

"Given the current economic climate, it's unreasonable to charge more tuition to students who already can't afford it," said Moulton. "It's crucial that the Ontario and Canadian governments show leadership on this issue through serious new investments in higher education."

OUSA represents the interests of over 140,000 professional and undergraduate, full- and part-time university students at seven Ontario institutions.

For further information: or to arrange an interview please contact: Alvin Tedjo, Director of Communications, work: [phone], cell: [phone]; Dan Moulton, President, [phone]; Alexi White, Executive Director, [phone]