TORONTO, May 1, 2013 /CNW/ - Representatives of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario will be available to comment on the 2013 Ontario Budget immediately following its release on Thursday, May 2, 2013.
Despite committing to reduce tuition fees by 30 per cent in the last election, the Liberal government announced a framework in March that includes four more years of tuition fee increases. A recent poll commissioned by the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario and conducted by Harris-Decima found that 77 per cent of Ontarians support reducing tuition fees and 76 per cent would support implementing a 2 per cent surtax on incomes over $250,000 if it meant making education more affordable.
STUDENTS RESPOND TO 2013 ONTARIO BUDGET:
| DATE: | Thursday, May 2, 2013 |
| TIME: | 4:00 p.m. |
| PLACE: | Queen's Park |
| WHO: | Sarah Jayne King, Chairperson: 416-339-4070 |
| Kaley Kennedy, Communications Coordinator: 647-302-3891 |
JUST THE FACTS:
- At $7,180 for undergraduate and $8,041 for graduate students, tuition fees in Ontario are the highest in Canada. In the last 20 years, university tuition fees have increased at seven times the rate of inflation and college fees have increased at more than five times the rate of inflation.
- Over the past 15 years, the average debt for a student with public and private loans has increased by 460 per cent, from $8,000 to $37,000. Collectively, students in Canada owe $15 billion to the federal government and Ontario students owe $2.6 billion to the provincial government.
- Ontario has the lowest per student funding in Canada, 23 per cent below the Canadian average. Public funding now accounts for less than half of university and college operating budgets.
The Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario unites more than 300,000 college and university students in all regions of the province.
SOURCE: Canadian Federation of Students - Ontario
Kaley Kennedy, Communications Coordinator, 416-925-3825 (office) or 647-302-3891 (cell)
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